The joint mission between the European Space Agency ( ESA ) and NASA , theSolar and Heliospheric Observatory(SOHO ) , was not in the first place destined to incur comets . Rather it was ramp up to study the Sun , from the depth of its core to the outer corona . But near 25 years after its launching , SOHO has reached a momentous milestone – thediscovery of its 4,000th comet . The “ sungrazer , ” aptly nicknamed SOHO-4000 , was spot amongst SOHO ’s data by citizen scientist Trygve Prestgard on June 15 .
“ I feel very rosy to have encounter SOHO ’s 4,000th comet . Although I knew that SOHO was nearing its 4,000th comet discovery , I did not initially think that this sungrazer would be it , ” Prestgard , state in astatement . “ It was only after discussing with other SOHO comet hunter , and counting through the most recent sungrazer discovery , that the idea sunk in . I am honored to be part of such an amazing collaborative effort . ”
domicile a million naut mi towards the Sun from Earth , SOHO has a constant persuasion of our principal . In particular , to help focalize in on the Sun ’s light-headed prohibited atmosphere ( corona ) , an onboard legal document called LASCO ( a coronagraph ) blocks out the Sun ’s shining expression with a solid alloy disc . Not only does this enable astronomer to dog explosions of fabric from the headliner ( coronal mass ejection ) , but the tool ’s high sensitivity and across-the-board field of scene turned out to be the perfect tool to spot “ sungrazing comet . ”
skim so close to the Sun that they can not be see from Earth , these comet had been unnamed until SOHO cast its middle on them . Even whenSOHO spots these comets , nearly all of them are in the mental process of being destroyed by the Sun , offering up a peek into the “ contaminating snowball ’ ” final moment .
“ Not only has SOHO rewrite the account book in terminal figure of solar aperient , but , circumstantially , it ’s rewritten the Quran in terminal figure of comets as well , ” Karl Battams , a space scientist at the US Naval Research Lab in Washington , D.C. , who also manages SOHO ’s comet - finding program , said in astatement .
Having contributed well over half of all live comet , SOHO has certainly established its billet in cometary account . But its success can not but assign to its instruments alone ; the toilsome work of numerous citizen scientists who identify the chunks of frozen natural gas , tilt , and dust revolve the Sun , is also to thank .
“ I enjoy the feeling of discovering something previously unknown , whether this is a skillful “ real - time ” comet or a “ long - gone ” overlooked one in the archives , ” Prestgard allege . His recent uncovering , SOHO-4000 , belong to to the Kreutz folk , a group of roughly theatre - sized comets recollect to be the fragments of a single giant comet , break up when it aviate too close to the Sun . In fact , 85 percentage of SOHO ’s discoveries belong to this house that persist in to stick to the way of the original Kreutz comet .
Other comets find in SOHO ’s data swear on a different instrument to LASCO , the SWAN legal document . This camera , contrive to reckon for interaction between the solar wind and hydrogen atoms , also pick up outgassing comets , which are spit water ( primarily made of H ) as they come near the Sun . Indeed , theglorious Comet SWANdiscovered in the first place this twelvemonth , was first detected by its namesake onboard SOHO .
Here ’s to more SOHO cometary success .
