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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: SOHO's 750th Comet Discovery - ...(YOU can be part of this!)

[http://www.spacedaily.com/news/comet-04f.html]Click

*More "sungrazing" comets (which evaporate in the solar atmosphere...I wonder what's the closest a comet can get before dissolving) discovered thanks to "The LASCO coronagraph on SOHO, designed for seeing outbursts from the Sun, uses a mask to block the bright rays from the visible surface.  --->It monitors a large volume of surrounding space and, as a result, has become the most prolific 'discoverer' of comets in the history of astronomy.<---"

*Wow!    I just love unexpected things like that.  I've known previously that sungrazers have been found via SOHO in this manner, but I didn't know it was -this- many, of this magnitude! 

Article says 75% of these discoveries are due to the vigilance of amateurs comet hunters "watching these freely available SOHO images on the internet. So, **--->anyone with internet access can take part in the hunt for new comets and be a 'comet discoverer'! Click here for information about how to search for your own comet: [http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/"]http://ares.nrl.navy.mil/sungrazer/"<---**

--Cindy 

---

We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: SOHO's 750th Comet Discovery - ...(YOU can be part of this!)

The LASCO coronagraph on SOHO...uses a mask to block the bright rays from the visible surface.  It monitors a large volume of surrounding space...

*Hey...why can't this technology be used for the determination of the existence (or otherwise) of Vulcanoids? 

Perhaps the "field" is too narrow?  I'm not sure how close to Sol the innerward-most edge of the alleged band of Vulcanoids is.

I mean, if tiny comets can be seen via this method...hmmmmm. 

Anyone? 

--Cindy  ???

---

We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: SOHO's 750th Comet Discovery - ...(YOU can be part of this!)

*I wrote a letter to the e-mail address linked to the site for the purpose of queries.  Hopefully I'll get a response.

--Cindy

---

We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: SOHO's 750th Comet Discovery - ...(YOU can be part of this!)

*I wrote a letter to the e-mail address linked to the site for the purpose of queries.  Hopefully I'll get a response.

--Cindy

*Excellent...a speedy reply!:

***
Hi Cindy,

I personally know very little about Vulcanoids, other than their
potential existance
(though I guess that's pretty much all anyone knows...), but I have
certainly never heard
mention of them in relation to LASCO/SOHO. The problem, in my opinion,
is the quantity of
unknowns surrounding them. What's their
size/orbit/composition/population,etc,etc?. The
comets we see are very small but they show up so well because of their
heating and
interaction with solar radiation and the solar wind.
So as far as I am aware, there are no plans for this technology to be
used in the search
for Vulcanoids and to be honest it's unlikely that any
organisation/instituion would be
willing to create a coronagraph instrument for the sole purpose of
looking for them. The
comet-finding capabilities of LASCO are considered purely as 'secondary
science' and did
not feature in the mission goals. Having said that, *if* Vulcanoids do
exist, I see no
reason why they could not be discovered by a coronagraph instrument on
a solar mission,
providing their size and orbital parameters are 'suitable'. One thing I
can assure you is
that if one does visibly pass through the LASCO fov, it will get found!
The guys that're
watching for comets are truly amazing!
Looking to the future, perhaps the SECCHI coronagraph, on the 2006
STEREO mission, will be
able to see something LASCO does not...

Hope this helps!

Best Regards,
Karl (sungrazer webmaster)

***

--Cindy

---

We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Paul

Banned

Registered: 2003-12-17

Posts: 4

Re: SOHO's 750th Comet Discovery - ...(YOU can be part of this!)

Now that's what I call service.

Good question, Cindy. I bet it never occurred to them, leastway's I bet they won't admit to it. I like your spirit girl!