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July 2002

• July 10 It has cleared up after the typhoon left the southern ocean. In the air there is a hint of the rainy season coming to an end. The weather bureau has forecast overcast or rain for the past week, but they often turned out wrong. I don't think such bad weather would continue that long. I went to the observatory late at night on July 10 and observed Comet Ikeya-Zhang the first time after a period of bad weather. In the 20cm telescope I saw a very large glow around 23.00. The faint coma was 9' across with a rather intense 13th-magnitude nucleus. Overall it was 10th magnitude. Toward early morning it completely cleared up. The Pleiades rose in the east. I searched for 30 minutes prior to daybreak. I noticed nothing unusual. The sky at twilight showed an eerie glow like a broad-blade Chinese sword shining under moonlight. This is one of those nights when a new object may be discovered.
at 23.00 July 10, 2002 60cm f/35. reflector Geisei Observatory

• July 10
It has cleared up after the typhoon left the southern ocean. In the air there is a hint of the rainy season coming to an end. The weather bureau has forecast overcast or rain for the past week, but they often turned out wrong. I don't think such bad weather would continue that long.
I went to the observatory late at night on July 10 and observed Comet Ikeya-Zhang the first time after a period of bad weather. In the 20cm telescope I saw a very large glow around 23.00. The faint coma was 9' across with a rather intense 13th-magnitude nucleus. Overall it was 10th magnitude.
Toward early morning it completely cleared up. The Pleiades rose in the east. I searched for 30 minutes prior to daybreak. I noticed nothing unusual. The sky at twilight showed an eerie glow like a broad-blade Chinese sword shining under moonlight. This is one of those nights when a new object may be discovered.

at 23.00 July 10, 2002
60cm f/35. reflector
Geisei Observatory