Do SOHO comets hit the Sun?
Kreutz sungrazers are known for their extremely small perihelion distances, which frequently bring them within less than a solar radius of the Sun?s visible surface (photosphere), particularly Subgroup I Kreutz comets, whose brightest known member was the Great Comet of 1843 and which account for about 80% of SOHO’s Kreutz fragments. The Sun?s radius is about .0046 AU, so any comet with a perihelion distance smaller than that would collide with the Sun?though much more likely, it would vaporize completely be-fore ever reaching the Sun, its scattered molecules raining down onto the Sun. Based on their published orbital elements, only a few SOHO comets were on Sun-intersecting orbits. One of these was Comet 2006 A5 (SOHO), one of the brightest comets seen in SOHO, which I found on January 3, 2006. Its orbit, as published, gives a perihelion of .0043 AU. It quickly deteriorated during its passage through LASCO C2, and probably vaporized altogether about 90 minutes before its perihelion.)
