The number of comets discovered through observations with the Solar Observing Orbiter “SOHO” reaches 5,000! | sorae universe portal website

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) Solar Observation Aircraft”Soho“While observing the Sun, comets passing close to the Sun were discovered one after another. Although SOHO is not a 'comet observing plane', it has discovered more comets than all the other comets discovered by other organizations.

On March 25, 2024, approximately 28 years after the observation began,The number of comets detected from SOHO images has just reached 5,000.This achievement cannot be achieved without the cooperation of many people.An example of how citizen science impacts scientific researchYou will become.

■SOHO sun-observing plane became an unplanned “comet-observing plane.”

Launched by NASA and the European Space Agency in 1995,Soho“, as its official name suggests, is the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, whose main purpose is to observe the Sun and the heliosphere. However, as a by-product of its primary purpose of observing the environment around the Sun, comets that fly extremely close to the Sun,Sun glow“It has been discovered several times.

It is estimated that the core diameter of most solar objects is less than 1 km, and in some cases less than 10 metres, making them very dark objects even when viewed individually. In addition, the unfavorable conditions of the very bright Sun nearby make observation from Earth almost impossible. For this reason, only a few dozen comets with orbits that could be called sun-orbits had been observed before the SOHO launch, and historically they were limited to very large and bright comets.

However, SOHO is equipped with LASCO, an imager with a coronagraph that obscures the body of the Sun, so comets like this can now be imaged. There are too many of them;The total number of comets discovered by SOHO exceeds the total of all comets discovered by other observing vehicles, observatories and individuals in history.In fact, there are problems in the collection method, which cannot be generalized.(※)There is no doubt that SOHO is the “comet observing plane” that has discovered the largest number of comets.

The discovery of comets through SOHO images is due to SOHO continuing to photograph the Sun, as well as to the Sungrazer project based at the US Naval Research Laboratory. The fact that the “project” started in 2000 also had an impact. This project is a citizen science project in which volunteers search for comets from images taken by SOHO, and plays an important role in the discovery of comets by SOHO. In fact, about 90% of the comets in SOHO images have been discovered by countless citizen scientists. The project also explains why it took about 10 years to discover the first 1,000 comets, but after that 1,000 comets are discovered every 4 to 5 years, the beginning has a huge impact.

*…For comets detected by SOHO, the accuracy of determining their orbits is lower than that of other comets, so many comets are not assigned official temporary codes. For this reason, it is estimated that there are many comets that are not counted as comets by the Minor Planet Center, an international organization responsible for comet data. In fact, the total number of comets in the asteroid center is 4,589 at the time of writing (April 3, 2024), and the numbers do not add up, indicating that there are a large number of comets that have not been counted.

■Comet No. 5000 discovered in Soho!

في 25 مارس 2024، اكتشف مذنب هانجي تان، عضو مشروع Sungrazer،العثور على المذنب رقم 5000 في صور SOHOأصبح. السيد تان هو في الأصل من الصين ويعمل حاليًا على الحصول على درجة الدكتوراه في علم الفلك في براغ، جمهورية التشيك. وقد شارك في مشروع Sungrazer منذ أن كان عمره 13 عامًا، ويعتبر من أصغر مكتشفي المذنبات.

ومع ذلك، أثناء تهنئة السيد تان، يؤكد مشروع Sungrazer على أن هذا الإنجاز تم تحقيقه من خلال تعاون العديد من الأشخاص، وهو إنجاز يمكن لجميع المشاركين في مشروع Sungrazer أن يفخروا به في الولايات المتحدة.

المذنب رقم 5000، المسمى مبدئيًا “SOHO-5000″، لم يكن له رقم جيد فحسب، بل يبدو أيضًا أنه يتمتع بميزة فريدة أخرى. وتشير التقديرات إلى أن هذه النقطة تنتمي إلى مجموعة مارسدن بناءً على خصائص مدارها.
يمكن تقسيم Sungrazers إلى عدة مجموعات بناءً على مداراتها، وينتمي حوالي 83% منها إلى مجموعة كروتز. مجموعة كروتز عديدة للغاية ويُعتقد أنها نشأت من شظايا مذنب لوحظ أنه انكسر في عام 371 قبل الميلاد. في الواقع، جميع المذنبات ذات الأعداد الجيدة من 1000 إلى 4000 كانت من مجموعة كروتز.

ومن ناحية أخرى فإن مجموعة مارسدن هي مجموعة نادرة من المذنبات تنتمي فقط إلى حوالي 1.5% (حوالي 75) من المذنبات المكتشفة عبر SOHO، ويعتقد أنها قد تكون مرتبطة بالمذنب الدوري رقم 96 “المذنب” ماخهولتز.” إنه يجري على الرغم من أنه قد يكون من قبيل الصدفة، فقد تم تخصيص المذنب رقم 5000 لمجموعة نادرة من المذنبات.

بالإضافة إلى ذلك، مع الأخذ في الاعتبار أنه من المقرر أن ينهي سوهو عملياته في 31 ديسمبر 2025، وسيستغرق اكتشاف 1000 مذنب حوالي 5 سنوات.قد يكون هذا هو آخر 1000 قطعة.

■مثال على كيفية تأثير علم المواطن على البحث العلمي

The comet was first discovered on August 22, 1996 (C/1996 Q2) using SOHO images. Almost 28 years later, 5,000 comets have been discovered, and many things have been discovered about the Sun Shepherd.

For example, the Sun's comets are divided into at least five groups, including Cratchit 2, in which only 10 comets have been found. To find such a rare group, it is necessary to observe a large number of comets.The astronomical achievements would not have been possible without the long-term SOHO observing system and the collaboration of many participants in the citizen science project to detect comets from images.That can be said

The majority of comets discovered by SOHO do not survive their approach to the Sun. However, the flow of comet-derived material is affected by the solar wind and magnetic field, so it can provide important clues for studying solar activity. Observing many comets is also useful for monitoring the state of the Sun.

Furthermore, as previously mentioned, SOHO-5000 belongs to the group that has been noted to be associated with Comet McColtz, known as the “Aurid meteor shower” and the “Southern Aquarius delta meteor shower.” It has been pointed out that there is a relationship between: As the number of observed comets increases, the orbits of comets can be known more accurately, and therefore SOHO observations of comets will also lead to an accurate understanding of the origin of these meteor showers.

[▲ فيديو من مركز غودارد لرحلات الفضاء التابع لناسا يشرح اكتشاف سوهو للمذنب رقم 5000 (مصدر الصورة: مركز غودارد لرحلات الفضاء التابع لناسا)]

source

• Carl Batthams. “Soho-5000!” (Singrazer Project)
• Vanessa Thomas. “European Space Agency and NASA's Solar Observatory discover its 5,000th comet”. (NASA)

Text / Riri Ayaka Editing / sorae editorial department