Folks, it’s official! ESA/NASA’s SOHO mission has discovered its 5,000th comet! 🎉 SOHO-5000 (left, between lines in inset) is a small comet belonging to the so-called “Marsden group.” They’re thought to be related to the larger comet 96P/Machholz (right).
The comet was spotted on March 25, 2024, by a longtime participant in @DoNASAScience’s Sungrazer Project, Hanjie Tan, who made his first comet discovery at age 13. Today he is pursuing his PhD in astronomy. go.nasa.gov/3IPVjEZ
@DoNASAScience The discovery happened before the April 8 eclipse – as many of you expected. (Nice job confirming your hypothesis, internet!) go.nasa.gov/49eoEUi
@DoNASAScience @MissionSoho is already the most prolific comet-hunting spacecraft in history, and it’s not slowing down. That’s thanks to the hard work of Sungrazer Project comet hunters around the world. Project lead @USNRL’s Karl Battams had this to say ⬇️
@DoNASAScience @MissionSoho @USNRL “Sungrazer has been with me my entire career, so to see it get SOHO to this milestone is beyond thrilling. I'm delighted for all the project volunteers who, over the past 20+ years, have made Sungrazer so engaging, inspiring, and rich with science.”
@DoNASAScience @MissionSoho @USNRL Learn more about the SOHO mission and the importance of this milestone: go.nasa.gov/3vkgYlz
@NASASun @DoNASAScience @MissionSoho @USNRL @NASA I wish you would do more films like Goodnight Oppy ~ Only that inspired kids to key pursuing the space stuff.