Although Comet Ikeya-Zhang is approaching our planet, it is also fading as it recedes from the Sun. Astronomer Clay Sherrod reports on April 18 that "Ikeya-Zhang is just visible to the naked eye and has dimmed almost one-half magnitude since April 12." Nevertheless, there's still time to see the comet before it vanishes. Get up before dawn any morning this week or next and look north near the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia; the comet is a fuzzy blob about as bright as a 4th magnitude star.

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.

	Photographer, Location, Date	Larger images	Comments
	Marco Cosmacini, Monte Jonaz, Italy March 10	#1	Taken with a Takahashi 106mm refractor and Fuji 800 ISO film, this image of the comet by Marco Cosmacini is a sum of three stacked exposures.
	Jeff Ball, Gallia County, OH March 10	#1	This brilliant image of Ikeya-Zhang by Jeff Ball represents a 15-minute exposure, processed in Photoshop.
	Prasad Agrahar, Manila, Philippines March 10	#1	This image, captured about 40 miles from Manila, was taken on March 10th, scanned, and enhanced in Photoshop.
	Ulrich Beinert, Bernd Gährken Kronberg March 10	#1, #2	Ulrich Beinert: "A friend of mine (Bernd Gährken) took a high-resolution B&W photo at the same time as I took my color photo. We combined the color and B&W photos to an LRGB. The date was March 10th, the time about 19:30 UT."
	Mike Oleary , El Cajon, California March 10	#1	Mike Oleary: "An image of Comet Ikeya-Zhang captured on Sunday, March 10, 2002. I used an )M-1 at the prime focus of a Televue NP-101 @ f/5.4. Film was Fuji 800. Exposure was 4 min."
	Kurt-Peter Zirn, Wendlingen, Germany March 10	#1	By Kurt-Peter Zirn. Taken March 10th, 21h UT with a Pentay 75mm refractor and a ST237 CCD-camera. Exposure time: 4 minutes.
	Dr. P. Clay Sherrod, Arkansas Sky Observatory, Arkansas, USA March 10	#1, more	Clay Sherrod: "The comet has brightened significantly since March 8. I was able to get a very good photometric CCD reading against EPSILON PISCES (mag. 4.25) to which the comet was significantly brighter at MAGNITUDE 4.13, clearly visible to the naked eye. In 10 x 50 binoculars the tail measured 5.7 degrees in twilight."
	Alex Roca and Angels Escuer, Hortoneda, Lerida, Spain March 10	#1	Alex Roca hand-guided this image, which shows the elusive Zodiacal Light in the background. Mars is the brightest object at the very top of the image.
	Michal Palka & Klet Observatory, Czech Republic March 10	#1, #2, #3	Michal Palka: All the pictures were made at Observatory Klet, Czech Republic by me, on Sunday 10th March 2002 through Zeis - Sonnar 200 mm @ f/4 on Kodak Royal 400 negative material. Scanned directly from negative, no digital processing. The tale of the comet apears to be aprox. 8 degrees long (!).
	Bartek Okonek, Leszno, Poland March 10	#1	A 30 sec. exposure of Ikeya-Zhang on Kodak Supra 800, 58mm at f2.0.
	Steve Rismiller, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA March 10	#1	S. Rismiller: "This image reminds me of the view as seen through 10 x 70 binoculars from the Cincinnati, Ohio area." Photo details: 102 mm ED Vixen refractor, 32 mm Brandon eyepiece, Nikon 995 digital camera, and a 1 minute exposure.