Richard and Cindy Krause's photostream  

** This is not my Photo** Borrowed from a news website.

A visitor from outer space. A photo of the December 2011 Star-grazer Comet Lovejoy. It was expected to perish when it passed behind the sun the week before Christmas.

I remember the hype that surrounded the return of Haley's comet in the 80's. Too bad it was a dud and few remember it.

Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into the far side of Jupiter in the 1994 but we missed that because it was on the side of Jupiter away from Earth.
Hale Bopp flew past in 1997, but the Heavens Gate folks in Colorado all committed suicide trying to catch a ride and more folks remember news of them than recall seeing Bopp.

Then in 2007 we had McNaught comet, but you could only see it for a few days before it fell below the horizon at sunset into the southern Hemisphere. Bummer.
And now the Beautiful Lovejoy comet has streaked past the sun and lights the early morning sky... Except I cant see it because its below the horizon in the Southern Hemisphere.
Those lucky dogs down south!

Seen in Arkansas near Eureka Springs.