Comet Ikeya Zhang, May 4th, 2002, 2:50-3:55 UT, seeing mostly 4 with windy observing conditions, transparency 5.3.

Astro-Physics 7.1" f/9 EDT refractor on homemade Dobsonian-style mount. Magnification 52x - 101x, field of view approximately 1.5 degrees. North is to the upper left in this drawing.

The seeing was only fair at best with windy observing conditions, so I was not able to use very high magnification (mostly 52x), and was unable to see the star-like pseudo-nucleus I have seen previously. The outer and inner coma appeared relatively large and green in color at first, but as the comet rose higher in the sky the color seemed more light blue. The gas and dust tail were both visible, the more prominent gas tail to the left, while the fainter dust tail below.

The gas tail was thin and appeared to originate from the inner coma. As the gas tail got further away it became wider, appearing somewhat multi-threaded near the top and feathered along the bottom. Total tail length was approximately 1.5 degrees.

The dust tail appeared as fine strands of light below the coma.