On November 27, 2011, Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy discovered a faint comet low in the twilight sky. Observations quickly showed that this object, designated C/2011 W3, was a member of a family of comets called the Kreutz group.

These comets are presumed to come from a single parent object and all of them follow a similar orbital path around the sun. Kreutz comets are sungrazers and they pass very close to the sun’s surface at perihelion.

Named after the German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first studied them, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet that broke apart back in the 12th century (probably the Great Comet of 1106).

Kreutz sungrazers are typically small (around 10 metres wide) and quite numerous.

Comet Lovejoy went very close to the sun on December 16, after which it put on a spectacular show in the morning sky for observers in the southern hemisphere.

The comet, made up of ice and rocks, incredibly survived its journey through the sun’s atmosphere and, against all odds, emerged intact. It looks very much like the famous Comet Ikeya-Seki of 1965.

Unfortunately, Comet Lovejoy is not visible from Malta and those in northern latitudes will not get a chance to see it since the comet’s head and tail are below the horizon at sunrise.

The sun rises at around the same time as the comet so it would be visible during daytime, however, the sun’s brightness washes out everything else in the night sky.

Comet Lovejoy is visible near Earth’s horizon in this month’s accompanying image photographed by NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, on board the international space station on December 22.

Astronomical events this month

For up-to-date information join the Astronomical Society of Malta’s group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/maltastro.

Alexei Pace is president of the Astronomical Society of Malta.

E-mail: info@maltastro.org.