It was a member of the Kreutz Sungrazers, a group of comets that pass extremely close to the Sun.

It was bright, with an apparent magnitude of 2, and had a short tail about 1 degree long.

Over the next few days, the comet faded rapidly, having evidently already passed perihelion, although its tail grew to about 10° in length by late September.

During its short period of naked eye visibility, it was widely observed throughout the southern hemisphere.

The Kreutz Sungrazers consist of two major subgroups, which are descended from further breakups of two different fragments of the original comet.