[4] Passing 0.42 au from Earth on 30 November 1680,[5] it sped around an extremely close perihelion of 0.0062 au (930,000 km; 580,000 mi; or just 1.3 solar radii, 0.3 radii above the sun's surface) on 18 December 1680, reaching its peak brightness on 29 December as it swung outward.

[1] JPL Horizons shows the comet has roughly a barycentric orbital period of 10,000 years.

[7] Basil Ringrose was serving under buccaneer Captain Bartholomew Sharpe and made the following observation shortly before raiding the Spanish port city of Coquimbo, Chile: Friday, November 19th, 1680.

The body thereof seemed dull, and its tail extended itself 18 or 20 degrees in length, being of a pale colour and pointing directly N.N.W.

Our prisoners hereupon reported to us that the Spaniards had seen very strange sights, both at Lima, the capital city of Peru, Guayaquil, and other places, much about the time of our coming into the South Seas.