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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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Alex
Roca & Angels Escuer,
Hortoneda, Spain
March 19 |
#1,
#2, #3 |
Our good friends Alex Roca and Angels
Escuer sent these three images of the comet. They used an MX5
CCD with an objective of 35 mm, mounted on a motorized telescope.
The black lines are overhead wires. |
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Francisco
RodrĖguez RamĖrez,
Canary Islands, Spain
March 19 |
#1 |
Comet Ikeya-Zhang
over Tenerife.
Francisco Ramirez captured this 30-second exposure of Comet Ikeya-Zhang
from the top of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. |
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Garth
Arsenault,
Hampshire, Canada
March 18 |
#1 |
Garth Arsenault took this image
of the comet above the trees of Canada. A 20-second exposure,
taken with a Yashica GT Rangefinder with 45 mm lens. |
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Jan
Koeman,
Kloetinge, Netherlands
March 18 |
#1,
#2, #3 |
Jan Koeman: "The waxing moon
at the moment is not favorable to see the faint tail of the comet,
but yesterday we could observe the comet with around 300 visitors
at the "Philippus Lansbergen Obervatory" in Middelburg, all looking
one-by-one through the 2 8"SCT and one 4"Newtonian telescopes
we used!" |
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Dominic
Cantin,
Quebec, Canada
March 17 |
#1,
#2 |
These beautiful photographs of Ikeya-Zhang
by Dominic Cantin, include galaxies M-33 and M-31 (Andromeda). |
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Carl
Archuleta,
Denver, Colorado
March 17 |
#1 |
This image, taken by Carl Archuleta
on March 17th with a Nikon Coolpix 995, shows Ikeya-Zhang very
much as it appears through binoculars or a small telescope. |
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Alex
Roca & Angels Escuer
Lleida, Spain
March 15,
17
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#1,
#2, #3 |
Alex Roca: "These three pictures
weree made with a Konica camera, mounted and hang-guided on a
telescope with an objective of 135 mm. The focal ratio was 3.5
and each exposure was 3 minutes. The first two pictures were taken
on March 15th and the last one on March 17th. They were taken
at 18:30 UT, while the comet was very close to the horizon." |
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Rijk-Jan
Koppejan,
Middelburg, The Netherlands
March 17 |
#1 |
Rijk-Jan Koppejan: "Today
I made a sketch of Ikeya-Zhang. The weather has been miserable
the last few weeks, so I was quite happy to view the comet at
last. Sketching is a nice way to observe: it forces you to watch
very closely and it's available to everyone. I used a Celestron
8" SCT with a 40mm eyepiece." |
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Greg
Sellek,
Madison, Wisconsin
March 17 |
#1 |
This image was taken from the Madison
Astronomical Society's dark sky site, Yanna Research Station,
in Madison, WI. Details are included with the picture. |
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Brian
Larmay,
Ottawa Lake, Wisconsin
March 16 |
#1,
#2, #3,
#4 |
Brian Larmay captured this picturesque
series of images, including a portrait of Ikeya-Zhang and the
Moon, in Southeastern Wisconsin. |
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