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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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Greg
Sellek,
Madison, Wisconsin
March 26 |
#1,
#2, Animation |
Greg Sellek of the Madison Astronomical
Society sends these two images of the comet, taken March 26th,
with a Meade 12" LX 200. |
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Eric
Allen,
Champlain, Canada
March 26 |
#1,
#2 |
Eric Allen and Daniel Laganiere
of Canada sent these two images of Comet Ikeya-Zhang, including
this spectacular close-up of the coma and jets. They used a 0.4
meter Newtonian telescope. |
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Keith
Cooley,
Athens, Alabama
March 25 |
#1,
#2 |
Keith Cooley imaged comet Ikeya-Zhang
on two nights. The color image was taken during a bright moon
on the 25th.He used a Canon AE-1 with a 50mm lens, and Fuji 800
ASA film. Each image represents about 30 seconds of exposure. |
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Bob
Sandy,
Trieste, Italy
March 25 |
#1 |
Accomplished astrophotographer Bob
Sandy: "This is an image of comet Ikeya-Zhang over my neighbor's
chimney taken from Roanoke County, Virginia around 01:15 UT on
March 25. This was a 3 minute exposure on hypered Tech Pan film
with a 135mm F/2 lens." |
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Jose
Carlos Millan Lopez
San Ysidro, Spain
March 24 |
#1 |
Jose Carlos Millan Lopez took this
30-second exposure of Comet Ikeya-Zhang from an elevation of 1100
meters, in Spain. He used a Praktica IVcamera and 50mm lens. f/2.8
The film was Superia 800 ASA. |
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Philippe
Moussette,
Quebec, Canada
March 24 |
#1,
#2 |
Phillipe Mousette of Quebec submitted
two photos of Ikeya-Zhang. Both images were captured with his
Pentax camera and 1600 Fuji film. The first image was taken with
a 100mm lens, the second with a 500mm lens. |
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Rolando
Ligustri,
Palmanova, Italy
March 24 |
#1 |
An image of the comet, taken with
the 350mm CAST Observatory telescope. The image is a sum of four
stacked 10-second exposures. Readers can visit their Ikeya-Zhang
gallery by clicking on Rolando's name on the left. |
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Mike
Klensch,
Skagway, Alaska
March 24 |
#1,
#2 |
Mike Klensch: "I am just starting
to get back a few of the photos I've been shooting of Comet Ikeya-Zhang.
The two I've attached were shot on the 24th not too far from my
home in Skagway, Alaska. I was using a 135mm lens at f/2.8 and
exposed for approx. 7 sec. on Kodak GT 800 ISO film." |
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Furio
Pieri,
Trieste, Italy
March 24 |
#1 |
From a hill in the surroundings
of Trieste, Italy, near the border with Slovenia, Furio Pieri
took this image of Comet Ikeya-Zhang with a 300mm Zeiss at f/4.
He used Kodak E200 film, with an exposure time of two minutes. |
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Jörgen
Blom,
Stockholm, Sweden
March 24 |
#1,
#2 |
Jörgen Blom: "Here are
two pictures of Ikeya-Zhang taken on March 24 from a golf course
about 35 kilometers south of Stockholm. In binoculars I could
see the comet's tail extending about 3 degrees, very near to M
33. The dazzling half moon disturbed the seeing somewhat. The
horizontal streak under the comet are position lights from an
airplane." |
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François
Emond,
Embrun, France
March 24 |
#1 |
Francois Emond captured this image
of Comet Ikeya-Zhang with a Celestron 8-inch SCT at f/6.3. The
image comprises five stacked 10-second exposures. |
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Robert
Sandy,
Roanoke, Virgina
March 24 |
#1,
#2 |
Two 2-minute exposures of Comet
Ikeya-Zhang by Robert Sandy, shot on P1600 slide film with a 28mm
lens at f/1.8 and 135mm lens at f/2, respectively. |
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Bill
Hark,
Goochland County, Virginia
March 23 |
#1 |
Bill Hark captured this image of
the comet using a Nikon FG, 50mm lens, and Fuji 800 print film.
The resulting photo was a 25 second exposure. |
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George
Varros,
Mount Airy, Maryland
March 23 |
#1,
#2, #3 |
Three images of Comet Ikeya-Zhang
by George Varros, who adds, "The comet was visible to the
unaided eye before dark with at least 1 degree of tail visible!" |
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Jorma
Koski,
Sondby, Finland
March 23 |
#1 |
A pleasing image of Ikeya-Zhang
by Jorma Koski of Finland. He used a digital Olympus Camedia Z3030
camera. A 16-second exposure. |
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