Comet Ikeya-Zhang was discovered on February 1st, 2002, a bright comet which will make its closest approach to the Sun over the course of the next month. The orbital path matches that observed for a previous comet, leading us to believe that this is the return of the great comet of 1661. The comet may unfurl an ion tail 10° to 15° long as it sweeps by Earth!

The comet's coma (head) appears small, bright, and tightly condensed, while the comet itself exhibits a very high gas to dust ratio. Such gas comets typically brighten more quickly with their approach to the Sun than do those with a large dust component. Because of this, it could put on an amazing show; a peak brightness of 3.0 magnitudes would not be at all surprising! Here is a photograph taken of the comet last Saturday from Las Cruces, by Dave Dockery of the local Astronomical Society. He took a 10 minute exposure using Fuji Superia X-tra 800, a Pentax K1000 camera body, and a Celestron Firstscope 80mm f/5 refractor with MV1 filter.

Comet Ikeya-Zhang will be difficult to locate low in the western evening sky after sunset in mid-March. Nevertheless, the comet is now visible to the naked eye. (Observers in Poland and Italy spied the comet without optical aid as early as the evening of February 28th).

The comet is not actually climbing in the sky; over the course of the next two weeks the background stars will slip westward for a given time of night, but the comet will stay on the western horizon. To find it, look for the crescent Moon in the west after sunset over the weekend, and then look north and slightly west or east (see picture below for the particular date). Good luck!