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.

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.

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | This is Page 12 | Page 13

Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.

	Photographer, Location, Date	Larger images	Comments
	Marco Cosmacini, Monte Jonaz, Italy March 10	#1	Taken with a Takahashi 106mm refractor and Fuji 800 ISO film, this image of the comet by Marco Cosmacini is a sum of three stacked exposures.
	Jeff Ball, Gallia County, OH March 10	#1	This brilliant image of Ikeya-Zhang by Jeff Ball represents a 15-minute exposure, processed in Photoshop.
	Prasad Agrahar, Manila, Philippines March 10	#1	This image, captured about 40 miles from Manila, was taken on March 10th, scanned, and enhanced in Photoshop.
	Ulrich Beinert, Bernd Gährken Kronberg March 10	#1, #2	Ulrich Beinert: "A friend of mine (Bernd Gährken) took a high-resolution B&W photo at the same time as I took my color photo. We combined the color and B&W photos to an LRGB. The date was March 10th, the time about 19:30 UT."
	Mike Oleary , El Cajon, California March 10	#1	Mike Oleary: "An image of Comet Ikeya-Zhang captured on Sunday, March 10, 2002. I used an )M-1 at the prime focus of a Televue NP-101 @ f/5.4. Film was Fuji 800. Exposure was 4 min."
	Kurt-Peter Zirn, Wendlingen, Germany March 10	#1	By Kurt-Peter Zirn. Taken March 10th, 21h UT with a Pentay 75mm refractor and a ST237 CCD-camera. Exposure time: 4 minutes.
	Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkansas, USA March 10	#1, more	Clay Sherrod: "The comet has brightened significantly since March 8. I was able to get a very good photometric CCD reading against EPSILON PISCES (mag. 4.25) to which the comet was significantly brighter at MAGNITUDE 4.13, clearly visible to the naked eye. In 10 x 50 binoculars the tail measured 5.7 degrees in twilight."
	Alex Roca and Angels Escuer, Hortoneda, Lerida, Spain March 10	#1	Alex Roca hand-guided this image, which shows the elusive Zodiacal Light in the background. Mars is the brightest object at the very top of the image.
	Michal Palka & Klet Observatory, Czech Republic March 10	#1, #2, #3	Michal Palka: All the pictures were made at Observatory Klet, Czech Republic by me, on Sunday 10th March 2002 through Zeis - Sonnar 200 mm @ f/4 on Kodak Royal 400 negative material. Scanned directly from negative, no digital processing. The tale of the comet apears to be aprox. 8 degrees long (!).
	Bartek Okonek, Leszno, Poland March 10	#1	A 30 sec. exposure of Ikeya-Zhang on Kodak Supra 800, 58mm at f2.0.
	Steve Rismiller, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA March 10	#1	S. Rismiller: "This image reminds me of the view as seen through 10 x 70 binoculars from the Cincinnati, Ohio area." Photo details: 102 mm ED Vixen refractor, 32 mm Brandon eyepiece, Nikon 995 digital camera, and a 1 minute exposure.