Amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok spotted the comet in photographs taken by an ISON telescope in September 2012.
Even from a great distance, the comet does appear bright, making it possible that its nucleus is somewhere between 0.6 miles and 6 miles (1 to 10 kilometers) wide, according to astronomer Matthew Knight of the Lowell Observatory and NASA.
ISON is expected to get as close as 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) from the sun's surface, providing it survives the gravitational forces or the sun's radiation. That closest approach will take place on Nov. 28, 2013.
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