It has been reported in the last 24 hours that Comet C/2012 X1 has suddenly brightened by over 150 times from magnitude +14 to 8.5. While other comets (looking at you ISON) have been taking most of the limelight recently, this comet has now moved itself within reach of binoculars from a dark sky site.
A similar but far more impressive outburst was seen with Comet Holmes in 2007 when it brightened by over 500,000 times over a 42 hour period from magnitude +17 to +2.8.
The comet is an early morning object located in Coma Berenices in the North East. It is currently presenting a halo approximately 2-3 arcminutes across with a small bright core. Currently between alpha and beta Coma Berenices, it is close to M64 (the Black Eye Galaxy) and might present a nice wide field photo opportunity.
The current celestial coordinates for those of you who would like to track it down are:
19 Oct 2013 RA: 12 59.54 DEC: 25 6.4
26 Oct 2013 RA: 13 17.05 DEC: 23 57.5
Assuming this outburst is sustained, that will bring to four the number of comets currently visible with a small aperture in our skies – ISON, short period Encke, Lovejoy and X1 LINEAR.