10 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…