NCAS members photo DJLaszlo@aol.com
'I took it at Pawnee on
March 19. 8" Schmidt Camera, f/1.5, ISO 100 film,
5 minute exposure. The
original frame is 4 degrees by 6 degrees. The Schmidt
cuts off the corners.
Gerry Reynalds scanned & trimmed it a bit to get it
rectangular again, so it's about
90% of the original.'
Other Ikeya-Zhang comet photos's by NCAS members Tomts' Other NCAS I-Z pics
Space.com
write-up of Ikeya-Zhang has the comets' path in relationship to the
planets.
The Encke Ephemerides on
this comet Possible
reoccurance of Comet
1532.
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COMET IKEYA-ZHANG, C/2002 C1
The 9th-magnitude comet spotted last week in the
constellation Cetus should continue to brighten as it
approaches the Sun. In early March, Comet Ikeya-Zhang
could be 5th or even 4th magnitude, but it will
then be very low in the western evening sky after
sunset and difficult to locate. After mid-March the
comet skirts north of the Sun and enters the
predawn sky, where strong moonlight will hamper observations.
Prospects get better during April as it draws
away from the Sun and makes its way across Cygnus, but by
then the comet will have started to fade.
The ephemeris below, based on Marsden's elements,
gives the comet's coordinates at 0h Universal Time on
selected dates along with its distance from the
Earth (Delta) and Sun (r) in astronomical units, elongation
from the Sun, predicted magnitude, and
constellation. Since these computations are based on a very short
observation interval, don't be surprised if the
comet drifts off a bit after a few weeks. But the ephemeris
should still give a fair idea of how the apparition
will unfold.
If the name "Ikeya" rings a bell, it should. During
the 1960s, Kaoru Ikeya discovered or codiscovered no less
than five comets. One of them, Comet Ikeya-Seki,
became the famous naked-eye sungrazer of 1965. But little
had been heard from Ikeya, at least outside Japan,
until he made his sixth comet discovery last week.
"He is the phoenix!" says astrophotographer Shigemi
Numazawa of Niigata, who adds that Ikeya, now age 58,
is manager of the Ikeya Optical Lab, supplier
of telescope mirrors to Japan's discriminating observers.
Roger W. Sinnott, Senior Editor, Sky & Telescope
*******************************************************************
Orbital Elements From Harvard
Comets
The following orbital elements are taken from MPEC 2002-F55:
C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)
Epoch 2002 Mar. 27.0 TT = JDT 2452360.5
T 2002 Mar. 18.9809 TT
MPCM
q 0.507060
(2000.0)
P
Q
z +0.019621
Peri. 34.6726 -0.5491662
-0.6906635
+/-0.000009
Node 93.3672 +0.6195519
-0.7143233
e 0.990051
Incl. 28.1217 +0.5608671
+0.1128098
From 541 observations 2002 Feb. 1-Mar. 24,
mean residual 0".6.
Elements are also available for the current standard epoch:
C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)
Epoch 2001 Oct. 18.0 TT = JDT 2452200.5
T 2002 Mar. 18.9833 TT
MPCM
q 0.507085
(2000.0)
P
Q
z +0.019667
Peri. 34.6718 -0.5491642
-0.6906651
+/-0.000009
Node 93.3677 +0.6195566
-0.7143210
e 0.990027
Incl. 28.1217 +0.5608639
+0.1128149
******************************************************************
COMET IKEYA-ZHANG, C/2002 C1
Date TT R. A. (2000) Decl. Delta r Elong. Phase m1
2002 04 02 01 02.23
+38 08.7 0.586 0.606
33.6 114.0 3.7
2002 05 02 18 54.23
+57 55.8 0.406 1.085
89.8 68.2 5.4
2002 06 02 15 41.87
+18 21.4 0.692 1.593 137.2
25.6 8.2
2002 06 23 15 22.96
+04 16.9 1.083 1.915 131.6
23.4 10.0
2002 07 05 15 22.19
-00 43.9 1.348 2.091 123.7
23.9 10.9
2002 07 10 15 23.14
-02 26.3 1.465 2.163 120.2
24.0 11.2
2002 07 15 15 24.69
-03 58.2 1.585 2.234 116.6
24.0 11.5
2002 07 20 15 26.75
-05 21.5 1.709 2.304 113.0
24.0 11.8
2002 07 25 15 29.25
-06 37.3 1.835 2.373 109.3
23.8 12.1
2002 07 30 15 32.13
-07 46.6 1.963 2.442 105.7
23.6 12.3
2002 08 04 15 35.34
-08 50.5 2.093 2.510 102.0
23.3 12.6
2002 08 09 15 38.85
-09 49.5 2.225 2.577
98.4 22.9 12.8
2002 08 14 15 42.63
-10 44.3 2.358 2.643
94.8 22.4 13.1
2002 08 19 15 46.64
-11 35.3 2.492 2.709
91.2 21.9 13.3
2002 08 24 15 50.85
-12 22.9 2.626 2.775
87.6 21.4 13.5
2002 08 29 15 55.25
-13 07.4 2.761 2.839
84.0 20.7 13.7
2002 09 03 15 59.82
-13 49.0 2.895 2.903
80.5 20.0 13.9
2002 09 08 16 04.53
-14 28.1 3.029 2.967
76.9 19.3 14.1
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NCAS