MPEC 2002-C28 : COMET C/2002 C3 (SOHO)

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M.P.E.C. 2002-C28                                Issued 2002 Feb. 6, 20:36 UT

     The Minor Planet Electronic Circulars contain information on unusual
         minor planets and routine data on comets.  They are published
   on behalf of Commission 20 of the International Astronomical Union by the
          Minor Planet Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,
                          Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.

             Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

                              MPC@CFA.HARVARD.EDU
          URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html  ISSN 1523-6714

                            COMET C/2002 C3 (SOHO)

Observations:
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.65424 21 41 25.2  -19 00 16                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.65424 2 +0.00786276 -0.00382616 -0.00108244        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.67923 21 41 10.2  -18 57 45                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.67923 2 +0.00786719 -0.00382104 -0.00108079        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.69590 21 41 01.0  -18 55 08                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.69590 2 +0.00787015 -0.00381762 -0.00107969        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.73758 21 40 35.4  -18 50 21                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.73758 2 +0.00787753 -0.00380907 -0.00107695        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.76257 21 40 16.1  -18 47 18                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.76257 2 +0.00788196 -0.00380394 -0.00107530        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.77925 21 40 03.5  -18 45 04                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.77925 2 +0.00788491 -0.00380051 -0.00107420        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.82103 21 39 42.8  -18 40 30                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.82103 2 +0.00789229 -0.00379193 -0.00107144        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.84590 21 39 27.0  -18 37 34                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.84590 2 +0.00789668 -0.00378682 -0.00106981        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 04.99757 21 37 40.5  -18 18 20                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 04.99757 2 +0.00792340 -0.00375559 -0.00105980        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 05.02923 21 37 18.2  -18 14 31                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 05.02923 2 +0.00792893 -0.00374911 -0.00105772        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 05.07101 21 36 48.9  -18 09 04                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 05.07101 2 +0.00793625 -0.00374050 -0.00105497        249
    CK02C030  S2002 02 05.09590 21 36 30.5  -18 06 14                        249
    CK02C030  s2002 02 05.09590 2 +0.00794061 -0.00373537 -0.00105333        249

Observer details:
249 SOHO.  SOHO-LASCO coronagraph C3.  Comet detection by M. Meyer,
    measurements by D. Hammer, reduction by B. G. Marsden.

Orbital elements:
    C/2002 C3 (SOHO)
T 2002 Feb. 6.04 TT                                     Marsden
q   0.0052               (2000.0)            P               Q
                   Peri.   79.37        +0.12180        -0.99131
                   Node   355.39        -0.96182        -0.10553
e   1.0            Incl.  141.83        +0.24509        +0.07849
From 12 observations 2002 Feb. 4-5.

     While the above comet, like some 95 percent of the comets discovered
by SOHO, is clearly a member of the Kreutz sungrazing group, it is rather
less appreciated that as many as 11 of the two dozen or so non-Kreutz comets
discovered by SOHO also seem to be interconnected.  The close temporal pairs
C/2000 C2-2000 C5, C/2000 C3-2000 C4 and C/2000 Y6-2000 Y7 were remarked on
when these comets were announced (cf. MPEC 2000-C52, 2000-C53 and 2001-B08).
There is also the pair C/1999 J6 (MPEC 2000-F30) and C/1999 U2 (MPEC 1999-U29),
comets with i = 27 deg separated by more than five months.  M. Meyer was the
first to point out the similarity between the orbits of C/1997 L2 (MPEC
1997-M06, MPC 35205) and C/2001 X8 (MPEC 2002-B01, MPC 44505), comets with
i = 72 deg separated by 4.5 years; it also appears that the poorly observed
comet C/2001 E1 can be associated with this pair, if the orbit with i = 107
deg on MPEC 2001-F52 is replaced by the one with i = 73 deg on MPC 44505.

Brian G. Marsden             (C) Copyright 2002 MPC           M.P.E.C. 2002-C28

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