It was already easily visible to the naked eye when first discovered, and reached a maximum apparent magnitude of +1 (about as bright as planet Saturn).
The second independent discovery was made on May 21 by Air France pilot Emilio Ortiz, from a location about 400 km east of Madagascar.
[5] A few hours later, Carlos Bolelli, a technician at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile became the third independent discoverer of the comet, although he saw only the tail, as the head was beneath the horizon.
[5] Marsden showed that the comet had reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on May 14, at a distance of just 0.0088 AU (1.32 million km), or 2 solar radii.
Kreutz Sungrazers all travel on similar orbits, which result in them being most easily visible from the southern hemisphere, between August and April.