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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 15 |
#1 |
Clay Sherrod: "The comet is
fading! Although visible low on the northeast horizon this morning
to the naked eye, I gave it a magnitude 3.9 with only about a
4 degree tail. Note the very nice spike coming from the coma,
or head, which was quite obvious in binoculars." |
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Michael
Daugherty,
Congress, Arizona
April 14 |
#1 |
Michael Daugherty took
this image of the comet from Arizona on April 14th. He used a
135 mm lens for a 20min exposure, on Kodak Portra 400 film. |
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Dan
Schechter,
Anza Borrego, CA
April 14 |
#1 |
Dan Schechter sent this
10 minute exposure, taken on e200 film with a 8" Celestron Schmidt
Camera with a focal length of 300mm and f-ratio of 1.5. It was
exposed on the morning of 4-14-02 in Anza Borrego State Park,
California. |
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Robert
Cash,
Fountain Hills, AZ
April 14 |
#1 |
Robert Cash: "Here
is a mosaic image I made of the Comet Ikeya-Zhang on the morning
of April 14, 2002. From my home in Fountain Hills, AZ (North-East
of Phoenix) The telescope is a Meade 10" SCT on a Meade LXD-650
computerized equatorial mount. Camera is a SBIG ST-237 CCD. Exposures
were 22-seconds." |
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John
E Cordiale,
UK
April 12 |
#1,
#2
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John Codiale gathered much data
in these impressive two images, which include spectral analysis.
Obtaining spectra helps us to determine the actual composition
of the comet. |
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Chris
Schur,
Payson, Arizona
April 14 |
#1 |
Chris Schur captured this beautiful
image of Ikeya-Zhang's deep green coma. He exposed his film for
15 minutes with each color filter (RGB), then stacked the exposures. |
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Tom
Teters,
Northern Colorado
April 13 |
#1,
#2 |
Tom Teters sent us these two 11-second
exposures of the comet moving across a cloudy sky. He used an
80mm Stellarvue refracting telescope. |
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Jimmy
Westlake,
Yampa, CO
April 12 |
#1,
#2,
#3 |
Jimmy Westlake: "Three new
images of Comet I-Z taken the morning of April 12, 2002 from the
Flat Top Mountains near Yampa, CO, elevation 9000 ft. What the
comet is losing in brightness, it seems to be gaining in detail
as it closes in on Earth." |
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Dominic
Cantin,
Quebec, Canda
April 12 |
#1 |
Great detail is visible in this
beautiful image of Comet Ikeya-Zhang by Dominic Cantin. He used
an 8-inch schmidt-camera @ f/1.5 with Fuji 800 film. The image
consists of three stacked five-minute exposures. |
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