 The comet passed through the ecliptic of the Solar System at the end of October 2019, and made its closest approach to the Sun at just over on 8 December 2019.In November 2019, astronomers from Yale University said that the comet (including coma and tail), was 14 times the size of Earth, and stated, “It’s humbling to realize how small Earth is next to this visitor from another solar system.” In the middle of March, 2020, the comet was observed to fragment; and later, in April, even more evidence of fragmentation was reported.The comet is formally called "2I/Borisov" by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), with "2I" or "2I/2019 Q4" being its designation and "Borisov" being its name, but is sometimes referred to as "Comet Borisov", especially in the popular press.