The almost-Great Comet of 2002

Comet Ikeya-Zhang as it appeared over the Kansas prairie. The bright glow at right is from the Kansas City metro area, about 100 km north. The comet passed perihelion on March 2002, and with apparent magnitude 3.5, it became the brightest comet since 1997. The current calculated orbital period is about 366 years. A bright comet had been recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1661, 341 years earlier, and comet Ikeya-Zhang was most probably the return of the 1661 comet.