Green comet discovered by Palomar Observatory flies closest to Earth Wednesday - FindLiveJob Green comet discovered by Palomar Observatory flies closest to Earth Wednesday - FindLiveJob

Green comet discovered by Palomar Observatory flies closest to Earth Wednesday

On Wednesday night San Diegans will get their best look at a comet that hasn’t passed this close to earth in 50,000 years.

The comet, which appears green, was discovered by San Diego County’s Palomar Observatory in March 2022.

Cameron Hummels is a research scientist at Caltech, which operates the Palomar Observatory in the mountains east of San Diego.

He said the comet, officially called C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was discovered with a device called the Zwicky Transient Facility.

The device is mounted inside a telescope, scans the night sky, and then takes multiple pictures of the same spot.

Because the comet itself, the icy part of the comet, is less than a mile in diameter, it really is the little guy. But the cloud of gas that surrounds that tiny ball of ice ends thousands of miles away.

The comet appears green because of its molecular makeup and the way it is illuminated by the Sun.

If you want to try and see it, Hummels said it's best to be in the desert, away from light pollution, with a telescope or binoculars and one that's good at scanning stars.

"Just after dusk it will be in the northern part of the sky, near the North Star," he said. Skies should clear on Wednesday, another reason it's the best time to watch C/2022 E3 (ZTF).