One of the brightest long-period comets of recent decades. Discovered in November 1975 by the Danish astronomer Richard Martin West (1941-), it brightened irregularly making it difficult to predict. It reached perihelion on February 25, 1976, and a few days later, its nucleus was seen to have split into four pieces. At its nearest point to Earth (0.80 AU) in early March, its magnitude was -1, its head was yellow, and its fan-shaped dust tail, up to 35° long, appeared dull red to the unaided eye.
