The Kreutz Group

Heinrich Carl Friedrich Kreutz (1854-1907), when investigating the orbits of comets, discovered a group of sun-grazing comets, now called Kreutz group, which has its origin probably in the destruction of a once much larger celestial body (Kreutz 1888, 1891, 1901).

As expected for such a case, the member comets of the Kreutz group all have similar orbital elements. With the help of satellites observing the Sun, in particular SOHO, a large number of new Kreutz group comets has been discovered in recent years, reaching 475 member comets as of October 31, 2002, and a continuing stream of discoveries can be expected for the future. Also, at least three more comet groups have been discovered recently, two of them by amateur astronomers (Meyer 2003).

Comets of the Kreutz Group:

Comet                 q          P    i        lP      bP
                                  
X/1106 C1                             
C/1668 E1  1668       0.066604        144.375  248.61  +33.23
C/1695 U1  1695                       
X/1702 D1                             
C/1843 D1  1843 I     0.005527  128   144.348  281.86  +35.31  Great March Comet
C/1880 C1  1880 I     0.005494        144.660  281.68  +35.25  1880a Great Southern Comet
C/1882 R1  1882 II    0.007751  759   142.005  282.24  +35.24  1882b Great September Comet
C/1887 B1  1887 I     0.004834        144.377  281.85  +35.36  1887a Great Southern Comet
C/1945 X1  1945 VII   0.007516        141.867  282.87  +35.97  1945g du Troit
C/1963 R1  1963 V     0.005065  187   144.576  281.90  +35.37  1963e Pereya
C/1965 S1  1965 VIII  0.007786  184   141.858  282.24  +35.21  1965f Ikeya-Seki
C/1970 K1  1970 VI    0.008879        139.065  282.26  +35.07  1970f White-Ortiz-Bolelli

References:

H.C.F. Kreutz, 1888. Untersuchungen über das System der Cometen 1843I, 1880I and 1882II, I. Theil. Publ. Sternwarte Kiel, No. 3.
H.C.F. Kreutz, 1891. Untersuchungen über das System der Cometen 1843I, 1880I and 1882II, II. Theil. Publ. Sternwarte Kiel, No. 4.
H.C.F. Kreutz, 1901. Untersuchungen über das System der Cometen 1843I, 1880I and 1882II, III. Theil. Astronomische Abhandlungen als Ergänzungshefte zu den Astronomischen Nachrichten, Nr. 1.
Comet X/1106 C1: Publication der Sternwarte in Kiel, No. 6, pp. 1-66, and AN 238 (1930 Jun 5), pp. 403-4
C/1668 E1: Kreutz (1901), p 166
C/1695 U1: Kreutz (1901), p 80
X/1702 D1
Maik Meyer, 2003. Auf den Spuren von Heinrich Kreutz - Amateure entdecken neue Kometengruppen. Journal für Astronomie, No. 11, pp 79-80 (II/2003, May 2003)
Zdenek Sekanina and Paul W. Chodas, 2004. Fragmentation Hierarchy of Bright Sungrazing Comets and the Birth and Orbital Evolution of the Kreutz System. I. Two-Superfragment Model. Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 607, No. 1, pp. 620-639 (June 2004) [ADS: 2004ApJ...607..620S]
Zdenek Sekanina, 2006. Sungrazing comets. Astronomy, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 36-41 (March 2006)

Links:

Sun Approaching Comets and List of all SOHO Kreutz Comets, by Jon Shanklin
Sungrazer Comets, by Gary Kronk (Cometography)

Hartmut Frommert [contact]