The plane of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds (lower right) can easily be seen in the background. The comet has been making quite a splash in the southern hemisphere. It reached perihelion on Dec. 16, and is still quite bright in the southern sky. The minimum apparent magnitude (or maximum brightness) was -3 or -4, or about 6 times brighter than the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Unfortunately, one couldn't get a good look then. Do you know why?
The image was taken on Dec. 23, close to perihelion. How would one estimate the size of the tail?
There's also a great time-lapse video taken over several nights from the Andes, east of Santiago, Chile. Watch it in high-def.
