This comet continues to brighten. The magnitude in a 9 arcsec radius is
now brighter than 11. We haven't seen any significant outbursts for a
month.
The comet's total magnitude is now around 7.3 measured using comphot and
it is showing a nice, active ion tail to the north. It will brighten
quite rapidly now as it moves in towards perihelion. By the time the
Moon moves out of the evening sky in a week or so the comet may be a
naked-eye object from dark sites and it should reach 4th magnitude in April.
A review of the behaviour up to the end of 2023 appeared in the February
JBAA (Vol. 134, No. 1). Members can download this from here:
https://britastro.org/journal/baa-journal-volume-134-number-01-february-2024
Nick.