A.R. Gibbs of the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona discovered the comet based on images acquired by the sky survey's 1.5-m reflecting telescope on 23 March 2012. However, Gibbs did not recognize its cometary appearance and was listed as an asteroid on the Minor Planet Center's Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page. At the time, the apparent magnitude of the comet was estimated between +20.6 and +20.8. Shortly after initial discovery, amateur astronomer Peter Birtwhistle in Great Shefford observed the comet using a 40-cm refracting telescope and CCD images, estimating an apparent magnitude of +20.1 and a diameter stretching 5 arc seconds across.
