What's up with comets?

[catloaf]

I frequently visit APOD and lately the really awesome comets have been putting on amazing displays in the southern hemisphere. Have there been any notable or spectacular naked eye displays of comets in the past 10 years visible from the nothern hemisphere on par with Comet Lovejoy? Or do the comets have a trajectory which is favorable for Earth's southern hemisphere?

[ngc3314]

The particular class that Lovejoy belongs to, the Kreutz sungrazers, all have similar orbits. As our northern luck would have it, they approach the Sun from deep in the southern sky, round it very quickly, and survivors retreat quickly south. The visibility doesn't have to be quite as bad as Lovejoy, depending on time of year, but the south is favored for these.

(Going back to the 1990s, both Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp did really well from the northern hemisphere).

[astromark]

Just as at 39. 55'54" South. I have the opposing view.. But as I did not see 'Hale-Bopp' or 'Hyakutake'

We in the South have been fortunate lately. Its just luck.

It's a interesting aside that the last two were 'Christmas' comets. Visible during this holiday period.

Could that be a pointer to some other facts..

[Romanus]

Comet Macholz was also another impressive naked-eye northern comet, a couple of those "LINEAR" finds, and Ikeya-Zhang--none were as bright as Hyakutake or Hale-Bopp, though.

To add to what others have said, it's just luck of the draw; a comet approaching from north of the ecliptic would favor NH observers, while one with a path closer to the ecliptic would be more generous to both hemispheres, etc. The same comet can also give a great apparition in a hemisphere on one approach and a poor one on another, e.g., Halley's Comet in 1910 (better seen from NH, near as I can tell), and Halley in 1986 (better seen from SH).