The sighting of Comet Ikeya-Zhang

I first learned about Comet Ikeya-Zhang from Dr. Armand Lee, a colleague at the Philippine Astronomical Society, when he invited me for a night of stargazing in Trece Martires, Cavite, last March 16. At that time the comet was up and visible in the western sky right after sundown. I turned down the invitation.

It was an opportunity lost for me to see the comet. I would never see the famous comet anymore, or so I thought. As if saying goodbye to the comet I searched the Internet for its pictures taken by astro photographers, only to find out that the comet would be visible again in the early morning of April and May.

I downloaded the orbital element of the comet from the International Astronomical Union’s website, and entered it in the comet editor of the astronomy software, Starry Night Pro. The software showed that one of the best time to observe the comet was April 14, an hour before sunrise. At 4 a.m. it would be 10 degrees above the horizon and could be a naked eye’s object, depending on the weather.

In the meantime, the Philippine Astronomical Society organized an out-of-town observation in the morning of April 14. We chose Bo. Hulo in Pila-pila, Binangonan, Rizal.

Bo. Hulo is a favorite site for many of our astronomical observations. It is actually a large tract of land that serves as rice paddies during rainy months. In summer, the soil becomes bone-dry, hard and stable enough to hold the weight of our telescopes and other instruments.

The nearest village to us is several kilometers away. Aside from the occasional motorcycles that pass by the feeder road, the area is free from "light pollution," making it a perfect site for astronomical observation.

At about 10:30 p.m., April 13, Peter Tubalinal and I arrived at the site. We saw Joel Muñoz putting up his 80-mm. StellarVue refractor. Kevin Ty was making little adjustment to his 4" TeleVue refractor, while Allen Yu was aligning his 4" Vixen reflector. Edna Azucena, a science teacher from the Poveda Learning Center, was setting up a tent.

All in all, we had two binoculars and three telescopes. I brought a magnetic compass and an MLR SP24 Geo Positioning System. The GPS proved to be an indispensable instrument that night. It showed us our exact coordinates and our elevation with respect to the sea level.

Everything was set up at 1 a.m. We scanned the skies for a possible bonus of sporadic meteors. We saw five shooting stars, a very bright fireball and two satellites that swooped swiftly from horizon to horizon.

It was 1:30 a.m. Alpha and Beta Centauri were up in the sky as well as the four bright stars of the Southern Cross. Somewhere between the northeast and eastern skies were the stars of the Summer Triangle. Vega was about two-thirds up in the sky, while Deneb and Lyra were a little above the horizon.

The seven stars in the asterism Big Dipper occupied a big portion of the northern skies with Merak and Dubhe pointing to the north star, Polaris. The bright star Arcturus was almost directly overhead, while Regulus in the constellation Leo and Spica in the constellation Virgo seemed to be moving downward toward the western skies. Edna had fun identifying those prominent summer stars.

The night was cold and windy. James seemed to be calling all the gods in the heavens to let the wind stand still because he could not do astro photography, while the rest of us hunted for deep sky objects and saw Omega Centauri, the Beehive Cluster and other Messier Objects.

At about 4:15 a.m., we scanned the sky and located Beta Cassiopeae or Caph already up above the horizon. But Comet Ikeya-Zhang was nowhere to be found. It should be somewhere to the right of Caph at this time. Starry Night could not be wrong.

Allen scanned the northeast horizon. He saw a dim, fuzzy object to the right of Caph. Some of us were not able to resolve the object due to the city lights of Metro Manila and the glare emanating from the northern horizon.

Could it be the comet?

With the aid of the binoculars, we examined that particular part of the sky. The dim, fuzzy object Allen saw with his naked eye turned out to be the coma of the comet! The three telescopes were directed toward that point of the sky.

Looking through the telescope I saw Comet Ikeya-Zhang. The beautiful comet that almost eluded me was right in front of me. With its tail about two degrees long and pointing slantly toward the north, the bluish-green comet was about 11 degrees above the horizon.

Carpe diem! Seize the day! We maximized the remaining 30 minutes of observation time before the golden rays of the morning Sun filled the sky.

James and Joel tried their best to take a snapshot of the comet but the strong gusty wind prevented them from recording it on film.

I could not describe the happiness on Edna’s face. I am sure it was a memorable experience and a lasting learning experience she would pass on to her students.

A few minutes after five, a glow of light was coming from the eastern horizon. Morning twilight! For the last time, we looked at our comet to say goodbye.

Although the comet will still be visible till this month, it will be a dim object before it swings past the Earth.

Peter said he will return to the site any time this month.

He should. Because the next time Comet Ikeya-Zhang visits the Philippine sky is in November, year 2367.