SOHO Comets: 20-Years and 3,000 Objects Later

TL;DR

This paper reviews over 3,000 comets observed by SOHO since 1995, analyzing their populations, discovery trends, and morphological features, and reports on a potential fragmentation event within the Meyer group.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive update on SOHO comet discoveries, including new insights into population statistics and the first observed fragmentation within the Meyer group.

Findings

Discovery rate of Kreutz sungrazers has remained steady since 2003.

First likely fragmentation pair observed in the Meyer group.

Detailed analysis of properties and morphology of four main comet populations.

Abstract

We present a summary of the more than 3,000 sungrazing and near-Sun comets discovered in coronagraph images returned by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), since its launch in December 1995. We address each of the four main populations of objects observed by SOHO: Kreutz (sungrazing) group, Meyer group, Marsden and Kracht (96P-Family) group, and non-group comets. Discussions for each group include basic properties, discovery statistics, and morphological appearance. In addition to updating the community on the status of the discoveries by SOHO, we also show that the rate of discovery of Kreutz sungrazers has likely remained static since approximately 2003, and report on the first likely fragmentation pair observed within the Meyer group.