Related papers: SOHO Comets: 20-Years and 3,000 Objects Later
The nearly continuous stream of miniature comets dominated by the Kreutz sungrazers has been an unexpected bonanza for cometary science initiated by the launch of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in 1995. Over the nearly 30…
I summarize and streamline the results of recent modeling of the orbital evolution and cascading fragmentation of the Kreutz sungrazers. The model starts with Aristotle's comet -- the progenitor whose nucleus is assumed to be a contact…
We examine properties of the population of SOHO/STEREO (dwarf) Kreutz sungrazing comets from 2004 to 2013, including the arrival rates, peculiar gaps, and a potential relationship to the spectacular comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). Selection…
I present the results of the first comprehensive effort aimed at modeling a major component of the stream of SOHO sungrazers, 5000 of which have been detected by the onboard coronagraphs since 1996. The stream of Population I of the Kreutz…
Discovery of nine populations in a set of 193 select SOHO Kreutz sungrazers (Sekanina 2021) is confirmed for the first time via a histogram of the true longitudes of the ascending node, constructed for a revised set of 220 select sungrazers…
We present the identification of comet C/1999 R1 (SOHO) with comet C/2003 R5 (SOHO). Both apparitions were only observed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) at distances smaller than 0.1 AU from the sun with the LASCO…
Until the second half of the 19th century, two or more brief appearances of bright comets, such as the ones in 1668 and 1702, alike in aspect and motion, seen with a tail near the Sun, were almost universally believed to be periodic returns…
The Kreutz family of sungrazing comets contains over 2~000 known members, many of which are believed to be under $\sim 100$~m sizes (\textit{mini~comets}) and have only been studied at small heliocentric distances ($r_\mathrm{H}$) with…
Most of the sungrazing comets observed by LASCO at SOHO belong to the Kreutz group of comets and follow trajectories that are tightly clumped in space. Statistical analysis of 9 years of SOHO observations suggests that the true apparition…
Tidal fragmentation at perihelion and nontidal fragmentation elsewhere cause the orbital distribution of Kreutz sungrazers of all sizes to be extremely complicated and highly nonuniform. Among the features are (largely fortuitous) clusters…
The structure of the Kreutz system of sungrazing comets is shown to be much more complex than formerly believed. Marsden's (1989) division into three subgroups (I, II, IIa) is now greatly expanded, as new evidence is being offered on nine…
The goal of this investigation is to reinterpret and upgrade the astrometric and other data on comet C/1945 X1, the least prominent among the Kreutz system sungrazers discovered from the ground in the 20th century. The central issue is to…
On 2018 November 18, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured an unrecognized comet crossing its fields of view. We identified this comet to be the minor planet (139359) 2001 ME1 whose previously unnoticed…
Comet C/2002 S2, a member of the Kreutz family of Sungrazing comets, was discovered in white light images of the SOHO/LASCO coronagraph on 2002 September 18 and observed in \hi\, \lya\, emission by the SOHO/UVCS instrument at four different…
Most Kreutz family sungrazing comets are discovered only days before perihelion, severely limiting observational opportunities to study their physical nature and decay. Kreutz sungrazer C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) was discovered a month before…
I investigate the nature of the transient nebulous companions to the sungrazing comet C/1882 R1, known as the Great September Comet. The features were located several degrees to the southwest of the comet's head and reported independently…
We present the history of investigation of the dynamical properties of pairs and groups of genetically related long-period comets (other than the Kreutz sungrazing system). Members of a comet pair or group move in nearly identical orbits…
In the context of a recently proposed contact-binary model of the Kreutz system, all its members are products of the process of cascading fragmentation of the two lobes of the parent, Aristotle's comet of 372 BC. This process presumably…
A one dimensional sublimation model for cometary nuclei is used to derive size limits for the nuclei of sungrazing comets, and to estimate oxygen ion fluxes at 1 AU from their evaporation. Given that none of the ~300 sungrazers detected by…
We present studies of C/2015 D1 (SOHO), the first sunskirting comet ever seen from ground stations over the past half century. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) witnessed its peculiar light curve with a huge dip followed by a…