The green devil comet is coming: How you can see it from NJ

Sometimes everything is in a name. Did you know The Beatles’ famous “Revolver” album was “Abracadabra” at first? When they found out it was taken, John Lennon suggested “Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle” and “After Geography” was George Harrison’s bad idea.

So if I told you for the next few weeks you could see Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks you might be a bit meh. But when you call it by its nickname — the green devil comet — it gets more interesting.

And it’s a good description because this comet, which by the way is literally twice the size of Mount Everest, burns with a green hue through the night sky.

This heavenly spectacle will be visible from New Jersey nightly under the right conditions without a telescope for the rest of March until the third week of April. As it races closer to the sun it gets easier to see.

The green devil comet only comes around once every 71 years. This is a once in a lifetime event and here’s how you might be able to spot it.

Experts say get to a place with as little ground light as possible. Think of places like Sussex County miles from any buildings or street lights, the darker the better. Also try it on a night when the moon is giving off less light. Here’s a handy dandy moon phase calendar for New Jersey to help you out. You don’t want a full moon. You want a crescent moon, remember, least light possible.

Next, according to an nj.com article quoting earth.com, “To catch a glimpse of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, observers should direct their gaze westward after nightfall, locating the Great Square of Pegasus — a constellation marked by four stars of almost equal brightness. Over the coming weeks, the comet will journey from this constellation towards Aries the Ram, identifiable by its loose V-shape.”

If you have all the conditions right they say you should be able to see it with the naked eye but binoculars will help.

Why is it called the green devil comet?

If you wonder why it got nicknamed devil comet it’s because it has been known to go through outbursts of blowing off debris and gas and dust and takes on the appearance of having horns or wings at times.

Just how big is this thing? No danger of it hitting earth, but that would be a problem. Remember when we said it’s twice the size of Mount Everest? Everest is about five and a half miles tall. This monster is around ten and a half.

I hope you find it one night this spring. It doesn’t come around again until 2095.