SOHO was not intended to search for comets, which follows at least from its name: “Solar heliospheric observatory”. It was created to study the heliosphere - the atmosphere surrounding the sun.
But after 20 years of observing the Sun, a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA served as an occasional spy on thousands of comets, such as Comet Lovejoy (in 2011), Comet ISON (in 2013), and almost 3,000 others.
An unofficial calculation for Monday morning August 17th, according to Carl Battams, reaches a minimum of 2,990 comets. Bettems is the coordinator of the Sun Observation Project in the fleet research laboratory, and also works in many other missions, including SOHO. He predicts that the 3,000th comet will be discovered in the next couple of years.
“The vast majority of comets are opened by amateur astronomers who devote their free time to this activity. Lovers are doing a lot of work, ”said Battams, adding that five or six people discovered about a third of all SOHO comets. These volunteers check the SOHO website for new images. The rules are such that all discoveries are considered to be made by SOHO, but Battams and other researchers encourage amateurs in their publications. SOHO is unique among all other spacecraft designed to study the Sun. It has a coronagraph, equipped with a special filter that can filter out the shine of the Sun. The location of SOHO exactly on the Earth-Sun line allows you to effectively observe comets approaching the Sun.
Most of them belong to the so-called Kreutz group, most likely a product of the collapse of a large comet that occurred in 1106. Kreutz comets have a very short perihelion (distance to the Sun); due to its small size and proximity to the Sun, only one comet could survive for a considerable time after observations with SOHO. This ceased to exist in 2011, Comet Lovejoy, which was observed for two weeks.
SOHO remains in great shape for experimentation. The space observatory has fuel for dozens of years of work, Battams said. The cost of the apparatus is very low, and it can work for as long as he is not prepared replacement. SOHO, the scientist concluded, is a unique and extremely valuable device.
