153P/Ikeya-Zhang
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 Ikeya-Zhang on April 1, 2002 |
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by: | Kaoru Ikeya, Zhang Daqing |
| Discovery date: | February 1, 2002 |
| Alternate designations: | C/2002 C1 |
| Orbital characteristics A | |
| Epoch: | October 13, 2002 |
| Aphelion distance: | 101.9200 AU |
| Perihelion distance: | 0.507141 AU |
| Semi-major axis: | 51.2136 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.990098 |
| Orbital period: | 366.5101 a |
| Inclination: | 28.1199° |
| Last perihelion: | March 18, 2002 |
| Next perihelion (predicted): | 2368 |
Comet Ikeya-Zhang (Chinese, Japanese: 池谷-張彗星, officially designated 153P/Ikeya-Zhang) is a comet discovered independently by two astronomers from Japan and China in 2002.
In February 1, 2002, Chinese astronomer Zhang Daqing from Kaifeng discovered a new comet at Cetus constellation, and report to the IAU. He found that Japanese astronomer Kaoru Ikeya discovered it earlier than him, as the time of sunset is earlier than China. According to the rule of namesake, they discovered the new comet independently, and the time between their discovery was within 24 hours. The comet was initially designated as C/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang).
The comet passed its perihelion at March 18, 2002, with the apparent magnitude 3.5, it become the brightest comet since 1997. The orbital period was calculated as 366.51 years. A bright comet was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1661, 341 years earlier, and confirmed comet Ikeya-Zhang was the return of the 1661 comet recorded by Chinese. Permanent designation "153P" was given to the comet, and it become periodic comet with the longest orbital period among the others.
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|---|---|---|
| Previous periodic comet | 153P/Ikeya-Zhang | Next periodic comet |
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