[meteorite-list] Sun Eats Another Comet

[Chris Peterson]

While Kreutz sungrazers constitute a recent population in geological terms, 
it seems highly likely that there have always been sungrazer subpopulations. 
You might go a few thousand years with low activity, and a few thousand with 
higher activity. And within those periods there will be statistical 
fluctuations as well as actual density fluctuations.

And of course, there will always be sungrazers that aren't part of any 
subpopulation- sporadics, if you will. (I don't think it has been confirmed 
that this was a Kreutz comet, although it seems most likely.)

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Matson" <mojave_meteorites at cox.net>
To: "Meteorite-list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2010 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Sun Eats Another Comet


> Resending from home e-mail:
>
> Hi Eric,
>
>> Sun Eats Another Comet
>> http://spaceweather.com/images2010/09apr10/comet_c2_big2.gif
>
>> Question: Is this something new? Or has this been happening since
>> the beginning of our solar system and we're just now "tuning in"
>> to the show?
>
> Perhaps the most accurate answer to your question is "neither". ;-)
> Kreutz comets are not "new" (e.g. in the sense of having just burst
> on the scene in the last few years). But they haven't been around
> for millennia either. The Kreutz family of sungrazers have been
> putting on their show for almost a thousand years, and include the
> Great Comets of 1843 and 1882, as well as Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965.
> They all trace their lineage to a single progenitor comet, which
> may have been the Great Comet of 1106. You can read more about the
> family here:
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreutz_Sungrazers>
>
> I discovered my first Kreutz comet in 1992 -- SOHO comet #445.
> My most recent Kreutz comet was SOHO #1798 (my 84th Kreutz), which
> I found in January of this year. So as you can see, SOHO has
> discovered over 1300 comets in the last 8 years, most of them
> members of the Kreutz family).
>
> Cheers,
> Rob
>
> P.S.  Most Kreutz comets do not actually "hit" the sun. Their
> perihelion distances are typically around 0.005 a.u. (748,000 km),
> which is about 7% more than the sun's radius.