After an absence of 71 years, the green-tinged ‘Devil comet’ returns to Australian skies

The green, horned “Devil comet” is now visible in Australian skies, offering a once-in-lifetime chance to see a unique celestial body.

Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, said while the Devil comet is technically visible now, it’s tough to spot – but it will become clearer over the next week or so.

It will be at its brightest on 22 April, just above the horizon, but Tucker says it will be like “a cat and mouse game” to find it because by then it will be competing with a full moon.

Photograph: Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket/Getty Images“As it’s made its journey in from the outer solar system, it’s heated up, so it’s released more gases,” she said.

It has also been called the “Mother of Dragons” because it is cryovolcanic – a type of volcano that blasts water vapour and other materials out from the core.

Allen said these comets, which have survived aeons and travelled from the edge of the solar system, are drawn in and eventually destroyed by the sun’s gravitational pull.