Reports from Gesei Observatory <April 4, 2002>

• Observation data: C/2002 C1(Ikeya-Zhang) and
C/2002 E2(Snyder-Murakami)
At last the sky became transparent. This would be the last view of Ikeya-Zhang in the evening sky. In a 20cm telescope there was a 4.5-magnitude star nearby and the comet was estimated to be about one magnitude brighter. Since its discovery, Ikeya-Zhang has always been visible for about half an hour in the northwest at twilight.
It has been rather difficult visually.

C/2002 E2 was visually estimated to be at magnitude 11.7 at 2 am April 5. It was very diffuse and fuzzy with a 1.5'-diameter coma. It has faded a great deal.

Let's observe C/2002 C1 in the morning sky at dawn.

C/2002 C1
2002 U.T.      R.A(2000)    Decl.        m1
Apr. 4.42507   0 51 32.68  +41 24 55.4   3.5  372

C/2002 E2
Apr. 4.72153  19 17 59.22  +26 35 54.1  11.7  372

C/2002 C1( Ikeya-Zhang )
19:26 April 4, 2002 with a 2-minute exposure on TP6415
60cm reflector at Geisei Observatory