Hi All,

As I mentioned last time, I will do confirmations differently until we reach SOHO-5000. Here is the complete confirmations for January 2024, and through SOHO-4980

Soho#  Date/Time of Post  Discoverer     Tel     Group   Images of...
=====================================================================
4968  Jan02,24 18:09:24   H.Tan         C3,C2    Kreutz  Jan02-04,24
4969  Jan02,24 19:20:24   H.Tan           C2     Kreutz  Jan02,24
4970  Jan06,24 19:22:10   J.Ruan          C3     Kreutz  Jan07,24
4971  Jan07,24 01:41:01   J.Ruan        C3,C2    Kreutz  Jan07-08,24
4972  Jan13,24 21:17:47   R.Pickard     C3,C2    Kreutz  Jan13-14,24
4973  Jan16,24 10:52:32   H.Tan           C3     Kreutz  Jan16-17,24
4974  Jan24,24 19:30:45   J.Ruan          C3     Kreutz  Jan24-25,24
4975  Jan25,24 17:02:36   H.Tan         C3,C2    Kreutz  Jan25-27,24
4976  Jan29,24 02:18:54   H.Tan           C2     NonGrp  Jan29,24
4977  Jan31,24 23:27:36   J.Ruan          C3     Kreutz  Feb01,24
4978  Feb01,24 12:48:34   HT,JR,MB,EB  C3,C2A,C2 Kreutz  Feb01-03,24 
4979  Feb03,24 03:03:18   H.Tan         C3,C2    Kreutz  Feb03-04,24  
4980  Feb03,24 20:15:14   W.Boonplod      C3     Kreutz  Feb04,24
-- 

HT,JR,MB,EB = Hanjie Tan, Jiangao Ruan, Michal Biesiada, Eryk Banach; "C2A" == STEREO/SECCHI COR2-A. And yes, I am aware there is one more 'endorsed' comet on the page from Feb 04 -- I will include that in the next set of confirmations.

It's very possible that SOHO-4979 will also be visible in COR2-A images -- we just don't have that data down yet. I should probably also point out that the Kreutz have been visible in HI-1A for a couple of weeks or more now. I haven't listed them here yet because I need to wait for some calibration files before I can properly record them. But most of these comets, and several from January, are visible in that data. I have not looked for new comets yet, so there might be some in there. Just for reference, there is usually about a 10 - 12hour delay between a comet leaving HI-1 and entering C2. Usually when they leave HI1, they are about mid-way through the C3 field of view (though this varies a lot based on the individual orbits, and the viewing geometry).

For those of you new to the project, "HI-1" is the Heliospheric Imager 1 camera on NASA STEREO-A. You can find links to those png images here. Note that they look very different to the LASCO images. You can see the different STEREO-A fields of view here. But note that the data from these telescopes usually takes about 48 - 72 hours to be transmitted back to Earth, so the realtime cameras from SOHO (i.e., LASCO C2 and C3) find most of the comets.

As always, please email me with questions, comments, complaints, concerns, etc.

Karl