A COMET that closely orbited the Sun has been decorating the Mallee's night skies all week.

Known as Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), the celestial visitor was first observed on April 5 last year.

It was soon determined that it would make a close encounter with the Sun, and may not survive its attempt to orbit nearby.

Its peak proximity was on January 13, when it was about 13 million kilometres or 0.09...