A long-period comet, discovered by the Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek (1935– ) on 1973 March 18; formerly designated 1973 XII. When discovered, Comet Kohoutek lay beyond Jupiter’s orbit and was unusually bright for an object so distant. This led to some over-estimates of the comet’s likely magnitude close to perihelion, 0.14 au, on 1973 December 28. Astronauts aboard the Skylab space station observed the comet with a coronagraph during its perihelion passage at magnitude −3. Comet Kohoutek emerged into the evening sky early in 1974 January. Although then of 4th magnitude with a tail up to 25° long and an antitail, it was much less spectacular than originally anticipated. Its orbit is calculated to be hyperbolic (eccentricity over 1) with an inclination of 14°.3.

http://cometography.com/pcomets/075p.html Information page at Cometography website.