153 P/Ikeya-Zhang 2002-03 and 2002-04.
Montage of seven images of this bright comet of spring 2002. All are adjusted to the same brightness representation, all are adjusted to the same scale (~106 pix/° in the full version), and all are rotated to be oriented in equatorial coordinates. Observe how the direction of the tail changes as the comet moves across the sky from the evening West horizon to high declination low above the North horizon, the tail always pointing away from the Sun. Also observe how the balance between the broad, bent dust tail and the thin, straight ion tail changes over time.
The images were taken (left to right) on the evenings of 2002-03-13, 2002-03-25, 2002-03-29, 2002-04-01, 2002-04-06, 2002-04-07, 2002-04-16. Black corresponds to a surface brightness of -1 MJy/sr, pink to +5 MJy/sr, and white to 50 MJy/sr.
Earlyburn. f = 50 mm, f/1.8 (f/2.2 for third image). First image Philips ToUcam Pro, the rest Logitech QuickCam VC. Third and fourth stationary on tripod, the others piggyback on Celestron 8. Exposure times 10 to 20 min. Combined grey and false colour encoding of brightness.