Below are links to tables, organized by comet type and year, for all of SOHO's comet discoveries. These include comets discovered in the SOHO/SWAN instrument.

Each table has the following columns:

  • PERIHELION DATE (OBS Date): The date/time of the object's perihelion or - for objects still pending an orbit - the approximate dates of observation.
  • DESIGNATION(S): The "SOHO number" (i.e. SOHO-1234) and, for objects with published orbits, the official MPC designation. The SOHO-number also provides a link to positional information for that comet. See note below.
  • DISCOVERER(S): Names of the people who first reported the comet.
  • TELESCOPE(S): A list of telescopes in which the comet was visible. This may include SOHO (LASCO C2, C3 and/or SOHO/SWAN), and STEREO cameras (COR-2A, COR-2B, HI-1A, HI-1B). NOTE: There are a number of comets between 2010 and 2016 for which STEREO observations are available but not noted. We are addressing these gradually, and will continue to update these lists as that data is recorded.
  • PERIHELION DISTANCE: If known, the perihelion distance for the comet and in many cases a link to the official publication for that comet.

Non-Kreutz objects, by family/type:

Non-Group Comets, all years
Kracht-Group Comets, all years
KrachtII-Group Comets, all years
Marsden-Group Comets, all years
Meyer-Group Comets, all years

Kreutz Group, by year

Kreutz, 1996
Kreutz, 1997
Kreutz, 1998
Kreutz, 1999
Kreutz, 2000
Kreutz, 2001
Kreutz, 2002
Kreutz, 2003
Kreutz, 2004
Kreutz, 2005
Kreutz, 2006
Kreutz, 2007
Kreutz, 2008
Kreutz, 2009
Kreutz, 2010
Kreutz, 2011
Kreutz, 2012
Kreutz, 2013
Kreutz, 2014
Kreutz, 2015
Kreutz, 2016
Kreutz, 2017
Kreutz, 2018
Kreutz, 2019
Kreutz, 2020
Kreutz, 2021

Positional (x-y) data

This is a new feature we have launched with the new Sungrazer website, where we provide a text file with positional "x,y pixel" information for the comet discoveries. Typically these files contain the comet SOHO identified, the predicted comet group membership, and the discoverers names. An example is this one: 
#SOHO-3980
#Discoverer: M. Uchina
#Comet Group: kreutz
#Original Report: 2020-05-31 23:57:24
#    DATE     TIME    TEL    COL     ROW  
 2020-06-01 01:25:44  C2    682.38   19.62
 2020-06-01 01:36:18  C2    684.07   26.57
 2020-06-01 01:48:09  C2    685.97   34.68
 2020-06-01 02:00:07  C2    688.07   41.84
 2020-06-01 02:12:07  C2    689.02   50.58
 2020-06-01 02:48:07  C2    695.66   75.02
 2020-06-01 03:12:13  C2    701.03   90.75
 2020-06-01 03:24:07  C2    702.92  100.76
 2020-06-01 03:36:09  C2    704.61  110.55
 2020-06-01 03:48:07  C2    707.35  118.77
The files provide a list of data/time/camera and x,y pixel positions for the comet, with a coordinate system origin in the lower-left of the images. These files are for informational purposes only and should NOT be assumed to be a complete and final record of every observation available for a given comet. Many files may have incomplete positions, and be missing observations from other cameras. We specifically do not recommend the use of this data for the basis of a scientific study without first consulting with the Sungrazer Project principal investigator, Dr. Karl Battams. You may email him directly or use the website contact form to contact him and/or the SOHO and STEREO teams.