On the day of perihelion passage, the comet's head was reported as deep yellowish in color, trailing a 10-degree tail.

In the pre-dawn of 12 April 1901 there was a naked-eye discovery of the comet by Viscara, the manager of an estancia in the Departamento de Paysandú, Uruguay.

In the section of his Astronomical Memoirs entitled 1901, Tebbutt wrote:[16]... During the dark hours it was a striking and beautiful object.

In addition to the principal or bright tail, a secondary and much longer but fainter one made an angle with it toward the south of about 35 or 40 degrees.

According to the definitive orbit calculated by Mr. Merfield, who also contributed a few observations himself, the comet arrived in perihelion on April 24 at a distance of 23 millions of miles from the sun.