Guillaume Blanchard / ESO

Comet Lovejoy streaks through the pre-dawn skies above the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile on Dec. 22.

If anyone questioned whether Comet Lovejoy would become the star of the season — and a lot of people did — the pictures of the past few days have removed any doubt. In the Southern Hemisphere, the death-defying comet is truly this year's "Star of Wonder."

Not only do we have an amazing video of the long-tailed iceball rising from the horizon, as seen from the International Space Station, we also have the stunning pictures and video released today by the European Southern Observatory. Skywatchers at the ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile captured the comet against the glittering backdrop of the Milky Way.

"For me, this comet is a Christmas present to the people who will stay at Paranal over Christmas," said Guillaume Blanchard, who snapped a picture of dawn at Paranal with the Milky Way and Lovejoy dominating the sky.

Gabriel Brammer put together a time-lapse sequence of the comet rising just before the sun. For devotees of the night sky, it's the latest must-see video. The clip also features the pencil-thin laser beam that Paranal's Very Large Telescope uses as a guide star for its astronomical observations. Expand the video to full screen to increase the awesomeness.

"With this spectacular sequence of the 2011 Christmas Comet Lovejoy, ESO would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year," the observatory's staff says in today's image advisory.

Amen to that!

More about Comet Lovejoy:

• 'Amazing' view of comet from space
• Lovely Lovejoy! Comet shot at sunrise
• Sun rips comet's tail during close encounter
• Still more pictures from IceinSpace.com.au

Colin Legg

Australian photographer Colin Legg captured this photograph of Comet Lovejoy's tail flaring up from the horizon just before sunrise Wednesday.

We already know that Comet Lovejoy is a survivor, thanks to its death-defying spin around the sun last week, but now we're finding out it's a show-off as well. Here's a glorious picture of the comet's double tail, captured just before sunrise in Western Australia.

The picture is part of a must-see video sequence created by Colin Legg, who set up his camera looking southeast across the Mandurah Estuary, roughly 38 miles (60 kilometers) south of Perth. Legg has a knack for doing time-lapse photography of the night sky.

In a rushed email, Legg told me he made a last-minute decision to try taking pictures of the comet, based on reports that the tail was visible to the naked eye during morning twilight.

"Drove from Perth to Mandurah, slept in vehicle until 2:30 a.m., then set up two cameras, one for time-lapse, one for still images," he wrote. "Kept shooting till sunrise, then drove back to Perth. Hoping to do the same thing again tonight. First opportunity in almost six years to image and view a bright comet. Only visible in Southern Hemisphere while still bright. Last good comet in south was Comet McNaught. I was still shooting film back then."

The picture shows two tails: The fainter tail consists of ionized gas that is pushed almost directly away from the sun by the solar wind, while the brighter tail is made up of heavier material that more closely follows the comet's orbit. Check out this clickable Flash graphic to learn more about the anatomy of a comet.

Although the comet was shot at sunrise today, Lovejoy isn't finished just yet: "The visibility of both tails could improve in the days ahead as the comet moves away from the sun and the background sky darkens accordingly," SpaceWeather.com's Tony Phillips writes. "Early-rising sky watchers should be alert for this rare apparition."

Check out SpaceWeather.com for more of that lovely Lovejoy imagery — but first, take a look at Legg's Vimeo video, which brings the nearly full moon into the picture. Go full-screen HD for the best view:

Cometary hits and misses:

• 'Doomsday' comet just fades away
• Hubble probes a comet's heart
• NASA probe delivers glowing views of comet

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.