Comet Ikeya-Zhang (C/2002 C1): Determination of the Rotation Period From Observations of Morphological Structures.

Abstract.  High quality CCD images obtained at two different observatories in North Italy allowed the identification of four morphological structures near the nuclear region of the comet Ikeya-Zhang (I-Z): haloes, jets, shells and spirals. The interpretation of the nature of these structures has been attempted by means of a comparison of different up-to-date image processing techniques, which led to a single common estimate of the rotation period (p=1.48?0.20 days). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]