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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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Calvin
Hall,
Portage, Alaska
March 22, 23 |
#1,
#2 |
Calvin Hall: "The shot of
comet I-Z at twilight is from 3-22 and is taken from west Anchorage,
AK. The mtn. is Mt. Susitna or "Sleeping Lady". The comet shot
with the aurora was from 3-23 and is cropped extensively since
it was shot with a 24mm lens. Taken near Portage, 50 miles southeast
of Anchorage." |
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Rudolf
A. Hillebrecht,
Bad Gandersheim, Germany
March 22 |
#1 |
From the Grasweq Observatory in
Germany, a nice image of Ikeya-Zhang. Technical details are in
the image watermark. |
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Steve
Rismiller,
Stonelick Lake, Ohio
March 22 |
#1 |
This very nice image reveals Ikeya-Zhang
much as it appears through binoculars and small telescopes. The
coma appears greenish-blue. A 60-second exposure taken with a
102mm refractor. |
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Dr.
P Clay Sherrod,
Arkansas
March 22 |
#1 |
Clay Sherrod: "A very striking
composite of several 40-second exposures from our observatory's
dark sky site. My brother Brian and I figured this would be the
last night before moonlight really washed it out. This shows tremendous
inner-tail structure." |
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Dennis
Mammana,
Skagway, AK
March 20 |
#1,
#2 |
Dennis Mammana: "Here's a shot
of Ikeya-Zhang, taken on March 20 from a site near Wickersham
Dome, north of Fairbanks, AK. The comet appears tiny because it's
shot with a 24mm lens, but even at that, it's plainly visible
to the lower left of the aurora. M31 appears as an elongated smudge
at center.' |
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Mike
Klensch,
Skagway, AK
March 21 |
#1,
#2,
#3 |
Mike Klensch: "All of these images
were shot on March 21, 2002 near Skagway, AK. The first photo
was shot with a 50mm lens at f/1.7 for approx. 15 sec. on Fuji
800 ISO Superia print film. The last two photos were shot with
a 400mm lens at f/5.6 for approx 3-4 seconds with 800 ISO Fuji
Superia Print film." |
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Calvin
Hall,
Near Mt. Mckinley, Alaska
March 21 |
#1 |
Calvin Hall: "This photograph
of comet Ikeya-Zhang was taken about 10 pm on the 21st of March,
Alaska time. The mountains are in the Alaska Range just south
of Mt. Mckinley and are the Tokosha Mtns. I was out hoping for
aurora which was very minimal. It's nice to have a comet again
to add to the photo compositions." |
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Mike
O'Leary,
El Cajon, CA
March 21 |
#1,
#2, #3 |
Mike O'Leary: "On a recent
trip to Alaska to photograph aurora, I was lucky enough to get
Comet Ikeya-Zhang as well. These photos were taken on March 21,
2002 at about 10:30 P.M. from a location 40 miles North of Fairbanks,
Alaska. I believe you may also see M-31 on the upper right of
the first photo." |
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Graham
Jones,
Dorset, UK
March 21 |
#1 |
This 8-second exposure from Graham
Jones reveals Comet Ikeya-Zhang almost as it appears to the naked-eye
under very dark skies. |
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Duane
Clausen,
Menominee, MI
March 21 |
#1,
#2 |
Two nice, artistic landscape images
featuring Comet Ikeya-Zhang, by Duane Clausen. |
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Andrew
Cooper,
Tucson, Arizona
March 21 |
#1 |
Andrew Cooper, whose previous image
of Ikeya-Zhang was an Astronomy
Picture of the Day, sent us this very nice recent image of
the comet. Cooper adds that "this comet is just too nice
to leave alone!" |
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Mark
Brown,
Prattville, Alabama
March 21 |
#1,
#2 |
Mark Brown: "I would estimate
the brightness of the comet to be magnitude 3.5 or better with
a tail stretching about 10 degrees. The first photo was taken
about 7pm with an Orion 80mm Short Tube piggy-backed to my C8.
Exposure time was 2 minutes using Fuji 800 Superia X-TRA film.
The second photo was taken moments later, photographed by prime
focus through my C8 using an f/5 focal reducer." |
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Manu
Arregi,
Gipuzkoa, Spain
March 20 |
#1 |
A five-minute exposure of Ikeya-Zhang
by Manu Arregi and the Basque Astronomical Group. They used a
600mm lens and Kodak 800 Pro film. |
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Thomas
Balstrup & Lars T. Mikkelsen,
Sonderborg, Denmark
March 20 |
#1 |
An impressive color mosaic of Comet
Ikeya-Zhang by Thomas Balstrup and Lars T. Mikkelsen of Denmark.
A 1200-second CCD exposure. |
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