Comet Lovejoy appeared in the predawn sky over Santiago on December 24, two days after the summer solstice. Comet Lovejoy is a bright comet with long tail, which was discovered in November by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. Since the comet has the orbit passing close by the Sun (approximately 180,000 kilometers above the Sun’s surface = half the distance between the Earth and the Moon), it was expected that the comet would collapse in the gravitational field of the Sun, but it survived the encounter and is currently showing its beautiful shape.

The picture shows Comet Lovejoy in the sky over Santiago before dawn. You can see the comet’s vertically-extended white tail over the mountain, albeit faintly.
[Photographed by Tsuyoshi Sawada (JAO/NAOJ)]