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Summary: In Early
March 2002, Comet Ikeya-Zhang became a naked-eye fuzzball in the evening
sky. It soon brightened to 3rd magnitude and delighted sky watchers
with its remarkable photogenic tail. The comet even had a stunning close
encounter with the Andromeda Galaxy. But all good things must come to
an end. On April 30th, Ikeya-Zhang made its closest approach to Earth
(0.41 AU) and since then has been receding toward the outer solar system.
The fading fuzzball now (on May 2, 2002) glows like a 5th
magnitude star at the limit of naked-eye visibility. Soon it will
be impossible to see without a telescope. So farewell, Ikeya-Zhang!
It was a great show while it lasted.
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Spaceweather.com
wishes to thank all those who submitted to the Comet Ikeya-Zhang
gallery! The comet is now fading, and the gallery is now closed
to submissions.
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Unless
otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.
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Photographer, Location,
Date |
Larger images |
Comments |
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Dr.
P. Clay Sherrod,
Arkansas
April 12 |
#1 |
Dr. P. Clay Sherrod took this image
with his observatory's 4" guide refractor through thick cirrus
clouds. Eight 4-second images stacked, SBIG STV-CCD, unguided. |
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Dr.
P. Clay Sherrod,
Arkansas
April 11 |
#1 |
Clay Sherrod: "Ikeya-Zhang,
taken with a 4" guide refractor mounted on the big observatory
scope in Conway, AR. The comet was magnitude 3.6 with an 8 degree
tail pointing nearly due north; both were clearly visible to the
naked eye on this very dark and clear morning. You can really
appreciate the very rich star field of the winter Milky Way seen
in this 3-degree field view in Cassiopeia." |
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Jorgen
Blom,
Stockholm, Sweden
April 10 |
#1,
#2,
#3 |
Jorgen Blom: "Early in the
morning of April 10 I took these pictures of Ikeya-Zhang from
a fairly dark site in the archipelago east of Stockholm.A 10 minute
exposure with a 135 millimeter lens showed the comet's ion tail
stretching through the countless stars of the Milky Way to the
little, fuzzy blob on the lower right hand side of the picture.
It's the 6.7 Magnitude open star cluster NGC 7789 which is located
exactly 9 degrees from where the comet's coma was at the time." |
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Dr.
P Clay Sherrod,
Arkansas
April 10 |
#1 |
Clay Sherrod: "Here is a double-shot
of Ikeya-Zhang. The large image (about 1 degree of sky!) is taken
across the observatory roof in strong twilight with a 4" guide
refractor. The inset is through a 12" Meade taken at exactly the
same time. It shows the very central part of the comet, slightly
more than four times closer and more detailed at the head than
in the other shot!" |
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Carol
Lakomiak,
Tomahawk,WI
April 9 |
#1 |
Carol Lakomiak captured this interesting
30 second exposure which shows the International Space Station
cruising eastward through Cassiopeia, just above Comet Ikeya-Zhang. |
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Philippe
Moussette,
Quebec, Canada
April 7 |
#1 |
Phillipe Mousette took this image
from Riviere a Pierre in Quebec. He used a Pentax ME camera and
400mm lens at f/5.6 with Fujicolor 800 film. |
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Dominic
Cantin,
Quebec, Canada
April 7 |
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4 |
Dominic Cantin of Canada took these
images of the comet on April 7th using an 8-inch schmidt camera.
The exposure times were five minutes each. |
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Jay
Ouellet,
Quebec City, Canada
April 7 |
#1 |
Jay Ouellet took this image of the
comet on the morning of April 7th. He used a Canon 200mm lens
at f/:2.2 The result represents a 2-minute exposure on Kodak Supra
400 film. Unguided on a G11 mount. |
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Frederick
Merlin,
Fontaine-Notre-Dame France
April 7,
8 |
#1,
#2,
#3 |
Frederick Merlin: "On April
6th, this comet was perfectly placed: about 20 degress above the
Northeast horizon." Images taken with a Canon EOS 500 camera
and Kodak Gold Ultra 400 ISO film." |
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Ulrich
Rieth,
Southwest Germany
April 6 |
#1,
#2,
#3 |
Ulrich Rieth took this series of
images with Kodak E200 color slide film and a Canon EOS 50E camera.
Ulrich adds that the comet was a nice naked eye object with a
2 - 3 degree tail. |
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