July-August 2025 Confirmations
Dear All,
More comet confirmations, through the end of August 2025. We will begin again with SOHO:
Soho# Date/Time of Post Discoverer Tel Group Images of... ===================================================================== 5215 Jul08,25 12:39:39 Z.Yang C2,G1 Meyer Jul08-09,25 5216 Jul12,25 14:27:12 E.Banach C2 Meyer Jul12,25 5217 Jul23,25 14:34:33 M.Stark C3,G1 Kreutz Jul23-25,25
And CCOR-1:
CCR1# Date/Time of Post Discoverer Tel Group Images of... Chat# ===================================================================== 0060 Jul01,25 00:22:38 J.Ruan G1,C3,C2 Kreutz Jul01-20,25 0061 Jul02,25 11:52:23 J.Ruan G1,C3,C2A,C2 Kreutz Jul02-04,25 0062 Jul02,25 17:10:41 R.Pickard G1 Kreutz Jul02-03,25 0063 Jul02,25 18:32:49 J.Ruan G1,C2 Kreutz Jul02-03,35 0064 Jul03,25 13:07:07 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul03,25 0065 Jul08,25 07:01:20 Z.Yang G1 Kreutz Jul08,25 0066 Jul08,25 10:10:37 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul08,25 0067 Jul08,25 18:21:37 J.Ruan G1,C2 Kreutz Jul08-09,25 0068 Jul10,25 00:58:49 J.Ruan G1,C3,C2A,C2 Kreutz Jul10-11,25 0069 Jul10,25 19:50:30 J.Ruan G1,C3,C2 Kreutz Jul10-12,25 0070 Jul11,25 17:43:30 M.Stark G1,C2 NonGrp Jul11-12,25 0071 Jul12,25 05:32:42 Z.Yang G1,C3,C2 Kreutz Jul12-13,25 0072 Jul15,25 18:46:54 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul15-16,25 0073 Jul17,25 05:25:26 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul17,25 0074 Jul17,25 05:09:41 M.Stark G1 Kreutz Jul17,25 0075 Jul19,25 06:34:03 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul19,25 0076 Jul19,25 22:05:12 R.Pickard G1 Kreutz Jul20,25 0077 Jul21,25 09:48:47 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul21-22,25 0078 Jul23,25 09:32:14 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul23,25 0079 Jul24,25 06:36:54 M.Stark G1 Kreutz Jul24,25 0080 Jul24,25 09:21:12 M.Stark G1,C3 Kreutz Jul24-25.26 0081 Jul26,25 23:09:10 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul25,25 0082 Jul26,25 23:09:10 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul27,25 0083 Jul26,25 23:49:59 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul27,25 0084 Jul27,25 18:35:02 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul27-28,25 0085 Jul29,25 09:36:10 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Jul29,25 0086 Jul31,25 09:00:29 J.Ruan G1,C3 Kreutz Jul31-Aug01,25 0087 Aug01,25 18:06:15 R.Pickard G1 Kreutz Aug01-02,25 0088 Aug05,25 21:48:22 W.Boonplod G1 Kreutz Aug05-06,25 0089 Aug13,25 05:34:36 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Aug13,25 0090 Aug15,25 03:24:44 J.Ruan G1,C2,C3 Kracht Aug15-16,25 0091 Aug17,25 14:33:19 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Aug17-18,25 0092 Aug18,25 19:11:27 J.Ruan G1,C3 Kreutz Aug18-19,25 0093 Aug20,25 05:40:50 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Aug20,25 0094 Aug21,25 15:33:34 J.Ruan G1 Kracht Aug21-22,25 0095 Aug22,25 04:22:58 W.Boonplod G1 Kracht Aug22,25 0096 Aug23,25 21:19:36 M.Stark G1,C3 Kreutz Aug24,25 0097 Aug25,25 17:41:20 W.Boonplod G1 Kreutz Aug25,25 0098 Aug26,25 02:50:52 J.Ruan G1,C3 Kracht Aug26,25 0099 Aug28,25 19:13:07 J.Ruan G1 Meyer Aug28-29,25 0100 Aug29,25 19:14:06 J.Ruan G1 Kreutz Aug29-30,25 0101 Aug30,25 08:07:28 J.Ruan G1 Kracht Aug30,25 ---
(A reminder that "C2" = LASCO/C2, "C3" = LASCO/C3, "G1" = GOES-19/CCOR-1, "C2A" = STEREO/COR2-A)
It makes me a little sad that there are only two new SOHO comets added to this list since the last set of confirmations. Clearly we have a 'changing of the guard' going on here. Poor SOHO... :( But CCOR-1 has already reached 100 comets -- amazing!
Anyway, regarding this set of confirmations...
There was a report from Jiangao on Jul17,25 03:08:31 that I couldn't see, but it was very close to his followup comet -- Jul17,25 05:25:26 (report_jr_20250717052526), which was very obvious. So I think there is only one comet here (the second one) and the first one was noise.
I also cannot confirm Jul27,25 22:59:28 J.Ruan or Aug20,25 09:07:18 J.Ruan. For the latter, I think I saw something in a couple of spots but it was at ~15-18 solar radii distance and then disappeared around 14Rsun. We would expect to see it get at least a little brighter before then. The data points don't line up well either so I suspect it is noise. I also cannot confirm Aug26,25 12:58:11 M.Stark -- it was a star, not a comet, but I understand the confusion -- and I spent much longer following/measuring it than I should have done!
In August we had that very interesting cluster on comets that most of you labelled 'Kracht II'. I will state upfront that I have not calculated any orbits but I suspect that these might actually be Kracht-group and not Kracht II. I say that for three reasons:
- 1. the KrachtII group is only 'sort of ' a group... It's really just a couple of objects, and we have historically not seen them often, so a large cluster like this would indicate something fell apart.
- 2. The C2 tracks of these looked a little 'lower' than KracthII, and more like Kracht;
- 3. Perhaps most significantly, there are LOTS of Kracht-group comets, including a cluster just like this in May 2004 (7 comets in 3 days). Maybe these are the return of those? We need to test that idea. But either way, it's clearly not unprecedented for Kracht-group comets to do this. So that's where I hang my hat. Happy to be proven incorrect though!
I know it has not escaped anyone's attention how far behind I am with confirmations. I keep making excuses, but they all true: measuring comets in CCOR-1 takes a LOT of time, and adding in data from LASCO and sometimes STEREO makes it even longer. And now I do not benefit from the 'quiet' months (Jan, Feb, Jul, Aug) to catch up, because CCOR-1 is that much more sensitive. Plus there are other logistical complications. My intent here is not to complain (ok, maybe a little), but mostly to reassure you that the project still continues and your discoveries WILL get recorded. Behind-the-scenes I am working on several things that will accelerate the process -- including getting formal orbits/designations again. So please keep comet hunting, keep finding and reporting, and somehow we'll make it all work!
As always, please email me with any questions, comments, complaints, or concerns. (Just don't sent .zip or .py files to my email because I will never receive those emails!)
Karl