1 citations · 1 across the 13 of their papers we have counts for
14 papers
Orbital-Period Determination As an Indispensable Tool to Study the Pedigree of a Sungrazing Comet
Zdenek Sekanina
Among some 4500 Kreutz sungrazers known, the orbital period has been established to better than about +/-20 years only for C/1882 R1, C/1963 R1, C/1965 S1, C/2011 W3, and C/2026 A1…
Orbital Motion and History of Sungrazing Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)
Zdenek Sekanina, Malgorzata Krolikowska
We report results of our extensive computations of the orbital motion of comet C/2026 A1, including its integration back to the fourth century and parallel integration of 1000 virt…
On the Problem of Prognostication of Bright Kreutz Sungrazers
Zdenek Sekanina
Tidal fragmentation at perihelion and nontidal fragmentation elsewhere cause the orbital distribution of Kreutz sungrazers of all sizes to be extremely complicated and highly nonun…
New Kreutz Sungrazer C/2026 A1 (MAPS): Third Time's the Charm?
Zdenek Sekanina
This paper describes progress achieved in early investigations of the orbital motion and light curve of comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS), the third ground-based discovery of a Kreutz sungraz…
New Insights into the Nature and Orbital Motion of Aristotle's Comet in 372 BC
Zdenek Sekanina
Extending the investigation of the presumed primordial comet as part of continuing work on a new model of the Kreutz sungrazer system, I confront a previously derived set of orbita…
The Great Comets of 1843 and 1882 at Their Previous Return to Perihelion in the Twelfth Century: One Spectacular, the Other Dull
Zdenek Sekanina
New insights into the history of C/1843 D1 and C/1882 R1, the two celebrated Kreutz sungrazers, are provided by assessing evidence on their appearance at the previous perihelion re…
Bright Sungrazing Comets in a Great Historical Controversy and Prospects for Their Appearance in the Near Future
Zdenek Sekanina
Until the second half of the 19th century, two or more brief appearances of bright comets, such as the ones in 1668 and 1702, alike in aspect and motion, seen with a tail near the…
Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) -- Second Ground-Based Discovery of a Kreutz Sungrazer in Thirteen Years
Zdenek Sekanina
Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) is a bright dwarf sungrazer, the second Kreutz comet discovery from the ground this century, 13 years after comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3). The Population II mem…
A Note on the Phase Law and Light Curve of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3)
Zdenek Sekanina
The light curve of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS peaked in mid-April 2024, which nearly coincided with a minimum phase angle of 2.9 deg. The question of a possible correlation between th…
Inevitable Endgame of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3)
Zdenek Sekanina
Hopes are being widely expressed that C/2023 A3 could become a naked-eye object about the time of its perihelion passage in late 2024. However, based on its past and current perfor…
Formation and Evolution of the Stream of SOHO Kreutz Sungrazers. II. Results and Implications of Monte Carlo Simulation
Zdenek Sekanina
I present the results of the first comprehensive effort aimed at modeling a major component of the stream of SOHO sungrazers, 5000 of which have been detected by the onboard corona…
Formation and Evolution of the Stream of SOHO Kreutz Sungrazers. I. History and Preliminary Investigations
Zdenek Sekanina
The nearly continuous stream of miniature comets dominated by the Kreutz sungrazers has been an unexpected bonanza for cometary science initiated by the launch of the Solar and Hel…
Spectacular Post-Perihelion Tails of Bright Kreutz Sungrazers
Zdenek Sekanina
A vast majority of bright comets between the late 2nd century and the early 18th century, moving in potentially Kreutz orbits according to Hasegawa & Nakano (2001), was first sight…
The Odd Comet 157P/Tritton and Its Misunderstood Fragmentation
Zdenek Sekanina
Comet 157P is a faint object with a history of being prone to unfortunate situations, circumstances, and/or coincidences. Several weeks after its 1978 discovery the comet disappear…