While there is no formal definition of a 'sungrazing comet,' the term typically refers to the Kreutz-group comets, which have a perihelion distance of less than 0.01 of an Astronomical Unit (the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun), or some 1460000 km.
The 1185th comet discovered in data from the SOHO LASCO or SWAN instruments (the other 185 are not members of the Kreutz group), the faint object is officially designated C/2006 P7 (SOHO) by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.
Before the launch of SOHO in 1995 December, only some thirty members of the Kreutz group were known. All 1000 Kreutz comets are believed to be fragments of a single comet observed in c. 371 BCE by Aristotle and Ephorus, and the fragments themselves continue to fragment, making more sungrazing comets.
Bernhard Fleck | Source: alphagalileo
Further information: www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQ0AJZBQE_index_0.html
More articles from Physics and Astronomy:
Better way to harness waste heat
20.11.2009 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NIST Demonstrates ‘Universal’ Programmable Quantum Processor
20.11.2009 | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Scientists Unravel Evolution of Highly Toxic Box Jellyfish
20.11.2009 | Life Sciences
When good companies do bad things: Examining illegal corporate behavior
20.11.2009 | Business and Finance
UCR plant scientist's research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought
20.11.2009 | Agricultural and Forestry Science
Multidisciplinary meeting on Urological Cancers aims to benefit cancer patients
20.11.2009 | Event News
'Golden Age' for clinical psychology in Northern Ireland
20.11.2009 | Event News
New Perspectives in Marine Anti-Fouling Research
11.11.2009 | Event News