Hi All,

Here are SOHO confirmations for October 2022.

Soho#  Date/Time of Post  Discoverer     Tel     Group   Images of...
=====================================================================
4585  Dec01,22 10:47:02   H.Tan          C2      Kreutz  Dec01,22
4586  Dec03,22 03:05:12   Z.Yang,H.Tan   C2      Kreutz  Dec03,22
4587  Dec03,22 15:11:46   H.Tan          C2      Kreutz  Dec03,22
4588  Dec04,22 06:56:42   J.Ruan         C2      Kreutz  Dec04,22
4589  Dec05,22 00:14:58   Tan,Yang,Ruan  C2      Kreutz  Dec05,22
4590  Dec06,22 16:22:38   W.Boonplod    C3,C2    Kreutz  Dec06-07,22
4591  Dec08,22 11:31:08   J.Ruan         C2      Kreutz  Dec08,22
4592  Dec15,22 04:05:19   W.Boonplod  C3,C2,C2A  Kreutz  Dec15-17,22
4593  Dec15,22 21:59:01   W.Boonplod    C3,C2    Kreutz  Dec15-16,22
4594  Dec18,22 05:38:18   J.Ruan         C2      Kreutz  Dec18,22
4595  Dec21,22 17:42:54   W.Boonplod    C3,C2    Kreutz  Dec21-23,22
4596  Dec21,22 21:41:21   W.Boonplod    C3,C2    Kreutz  Dec22,22
4597  Dec23,22 23:03:51   W.Boonplod     C2      Kreutz  Dec24,22
4598  Jan01,23 20:57:41   J.Ruan         C2      Kreutz  Dec31,22

I'm gradually getting caught up here. I don't think January was too busy, so I should be able to get those done this week.

We ended the year with 205 comet discoveries (not including any that might be in my archives list). Once again, this is remarkably consistent with previous years:

2010: 215
2011: 225
2012: 236
2013: 228
2014: 201
2015: 228
2016: 180
2017: 235
2018: 215
2019: 209
2020: 209
2021: 204
2022: 205

It always amazes me how consistent this is every year -- except 2016... that year was very odd. Congratulations - and THANK YOU - to everyone who contributed in 2022!

I still do not know how we are going to handle the various 96P fragment claims. I'm sure you're all familiar with the Hubble images of comet 73P. I suspect that if we could look closely at these 96P fragments, we would see something just like that. So the question becomes "at what point does a fragment get an individual designation?". There's no clear answer. Of course with SOHO Kreutz we have always said that any object that is clearly detached somehow from another object is to be classed as a separate fragment. But I am sure there are times in the past when I should have awarded a fragment and did not, and likewise times when I did award a fragment but should not have. It's all imprecise. So I think all we can do here with 96P is apply those same rules. If a clear, distinct "object" is visible for at least five or six C3 images, then it will be declared a fragment. It is still possible that we will be able to confidently connect some of the 2023 fragments with earlier ones, so we will make those attempts. This is uncharted territory, so please be patient/tolerant on this process!

While on the subject of 96P, I have placed a large (272MB) zip file of png files here. These are the individual png files that I processed to make the movie I posted last week.

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

Karl