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Credit & Copyright: Gerald Rhemann
Explanation:
In the last
week, Comet
Ikeya-Zhang
has become
bright enough to be just visible to the unaided eye.
Based on its present activity,
observers are optimistic that
Ikeya-Zhang
will become substantially brighter.
This composite
color
image from March 3rd, captured with a wide-field
telescope, shows this
active
comet's bright, condensed coma and
a delightful array of subtle structures in its developing
tail.
The bluish tail stretches for 5 degrees or so against a background of
stars in the constellation Pisces.
In the coming days
look for the comet hanging low in the
western evening sky (below a bright yellowish Mars), eventually
becoming difficult to see in the March twilight.
But after April begins,
Ikeya-Zhang
will become a predawn object
climbing higher into the morning sky as the month progresses.
Cataloged as comet C/2002 C1,
improved orbit determinations now
make it seem very likely that Comet
Ikeya-Zhang has been around here before.
Refined calculations
indicate this comet's last trip through the
inner Solar System was 341
years ago, in 1661,
when it was recorded as a
bright comet.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet - comet Ikeya-Zhang
Publications with words: comet - comet Ikeya-Zhang
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks
- The Snows of Churyumov Gerasimenko