Now it's back from outer space

THE brightest comet in Australia's skies for more than 40 years made its appearance above Sydney last night.

The McNaught Comet is currently at its closest approach around the Sun and should be above Australia for more than a week.

The 10km wide comet was discovered by Australian astronomer Rob McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory, in NSW, in August 2006.

Dr James Biggs, director of the Perth Observatory, said it was 12 per cent brighter than the sighting in 1995 of the Hale-Bopp Comet but still 25 times fainter than 1965's Ikeya-Seki Comet.