In summer 1999 I was very surprised to find the name of Terry Lovejoy of Australia - a well known visual observer of comets - mentioned as the discoverer of comets which were found in data of the SOHO spacecraft. I started to look occasionally at the real time images which can be found on the net but did not find anything. Then, in January 2000, I started to search more thoroughly and found my first SOHO comet on January 29, 2000. Since then I have found a lot more - most of them together with other amateurs from all over the world.
Most of these comets are members of the Kreutz group. More about SOHO's comet discoveries can be found on the Sungrazer Homepage by Doug Biesecker and on the BAA Homepage by Jonathan Shanklin.
All comets are members of the Kreutz group if not stated otherwise.
No. Disc. Date IAU designation SOHO des. Discoverers
MPEC link Notes / Images
1 01/29/2000 C/2000 B6 (SOHO) SOHO- 98 Maik Meyer, Terry Lovejoy, Jonathan Shanklin, Michael Oates
2 01/31/2000 C/2000 B7 (SOHO) SOHO- 99 Maik Meyer, Terry Lovejoy (The discovery story.)
3 02/05/2000 C/2000 C4 (SOHO) SOHO-101 Maik Meyer (ESA Press Release, Marsden group comet)
4 02/26/2000 C/2000 D3 (SOHO) SOHO-105 Maik Meyer, Kazimieras Cernis
5 03/04/2000 C/2000 E1 (SOHO) SOHO-107 Maik Meyer, Michael Boschat, Tim Harincar, Michael Oates
6 04/01/2000 C/2000 F1 (SOHO) SOHO-110 Maik Meyer, Jonathan Shanklin (Image)
7 06/14/2000 C/2000 L4 (SOHO) SOHO-135 Michael Boschat, Maik Meyer, Xavier Leprette (Image)
8 06/19/2000 C/2000 M3 (SOHO) SOHO-147 Maik Meyer
9 06/22/2000 C/2000 M4 (SOHO) SOHO-158 Maik Meyer, Michael Boschat (Image)
10 06/26/2000 C/2000 M7 (SOHO) SOHO-164 Hartwig Lüthen, Maik Meyer (Image)
11 06/28/2000 C/2000 M6 (SOHO) SOHO-166 Maik Meyer (Image)
12 07/01/2000 C/2000 M9 (SOHO) SOHO-167 Maik Meyer (Image)
13 07/08/2000 C/2000 N2 (SOHO) SOHO-173 Maik Meyer, Pavel Shkreby
14 08/22/2000 C/1996 E2 (SOHO) SOHO-201 Maik Meyer (Archival comet of Mar 10, 1996. Image)
15 08/25/2000 C/1998 F2 (SOHO) SOHO-202 Maik Meyer (Archival comet of Mar 27, 1998.)
16 11/18/2000 C/2000 W3 (SOHO) SOHO-247 Maik Meyer (Image)
17 12/20/2000 C/2000 Y6 (SOHO) SOHO-277 Maik Meyer (Image, Fainter fragment found by S. Hönig. Non-Kreutz comet.)
18 09/05/2001 C/2001 R3 (SOHO) SOHO-348 Maik Meyer
19 12/04/2001 C/2001 X5 (SOHO) SOHO-378 Maik Meyer (GIF animation, noise substracted)
20 12/06/2001 C/2001 X6 (SOHO) SOHO-379 Maik Meyer, Xavier Leprette (GIF animation with Mercury, noise substracted)
21 02/04/2002 C/2002 C3 (SOHO) SOHO-388 Maik Meyer
22 03/04/2002 C/2000 B8 (SOHO) SOHO-405 Maik Meyer (Archival Meyer group comet)
23 03/25/2002 C/2002 F3 (SOHO) SOHO-416 Maik Meyer, Xavier Leprette
24 04/26/2002 C/2002 H6 (SOHO) SOHO-432 Maik Meyer
25 05/07/2002 C/1998 X12 (SOHO) SOHO-440 Maik Meyer (Archival Kreutz group comet)
26 05/23/2002 C/2002 K5 (SOHO) SOHO-448 Maik Meyer
27 06/06/2002 C/2002 L2 (SOHO) SOHO-456 Maik Meyer
28 06/07/2002 C/2002 L4 (SOHO) SOHO-458 Maik Meyer
29 11/19/2002 C/2002 W4 (SOHO) SOHO-548 Maik Meyer
30 12/05/2002 C/2002 X8 (SOHO) SOHO-568 Maik Meyer
31 06/05/2003 C/2003 L4 (SOHO) SOHO-623 Rainer Kracht, Maik Meyer
32 12/20/2003 C/2003 Y1 (SOHO) SOHO-711 Maik Meyer (Meyer group comet)
33 05/24/2004 C/2004 K8 (SOHO) SOHO-789 Maik Meyer
34 05/25/2004 C/2004 K10 (SOHO) SOHO-791 Maik Meyer
35 11/14/2004 C/2004 V14 (SOHO) SOHO-863 Maik Meyer
36 03/28/2005 C/2005 F3 (SOHO) SOHO-932 Maik Meyer
37 05/06/2005 C/2005 J4 (SOHO) SOHO-952 Maik Meyer
38 12/10/2006 C/2006 X5 (SOHO) SOHO-1229 Maik Meyer
39 05/26/2007 C/2007 K12 (SOHO) SOHO-1314 Maik Meyer
40 04/29/2008 C/2008 H7 (SOHO) SOHO-1460 Maik Meyer
Not confirmed objects (mostly because of not enough images for orbital calculations):
U01 Possible Kreutz comet in C2 on April 01, 1996. (3 or 4? images)
U02 Possible Kreutz comet in C2 on April 03, 1996. (2 images)
U03 Possible Kreutz comet in C2 on April 10, 1996. Image. (2 images)
U04 Possible Kreutz comet in C2 on April 13, 1996. (1 image)
U05 Possible Kreutz comet in C2 on March 27, 1998. (3 images)
(Images courtesy of the SOHO/LASCO consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.)
Other SOHO comet hunters
Catalogue of Comet Discoveries
If you have any questions, please email me