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The Unified Astronomy Thesaurus is an open, interoperable and community-supported thesaurus of astronomical and astrophysical concepts and their relationships.
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New Concepts: Near-Sun comets #337

Closed mkelley closed 3 years ago

mkelley commented 3 years ago

Name the new concept Near-sun comets Near-sun comets | Sundivers Near-sun comets | Sungrazers Near-sun comets | Sungrazers | Kreutz group Near-sun comets | Sunskirters Near-sun comets | Sunskirters | Kracht group Near-sun comets | Sunskirters | Marsden group Near-sun comets | Sunskirters | Meyer group

Describe the concept Near-sun comets are a dynamical class of comets that have perihelion distances near or intersecting the Sun. The terms for specific groups (Kreutz, Kracht, and Marsden) have been in use for many years, but the terms sundiver, sungrazer, and sunskirter were not well defined until Jones et al. 2017 (DOI:10.1007/s11214-017-0446-5).

Following Jones et al.:

Near-sun comets - all comets with perihelion distances within the perihelion distance of Mercury (66.1 solar radii). Sunskirters - comets with perihelion distances within 1/2 the perihelion distance of Mercury (33.1 solar radii). Sungrazers - comets with perihelion distances within the fluid Roche limit of the Sun. Sundivers - comets with perihelion distances within 1 solar radius, i.e., their orbits intersect with the surface of the Sun.

Describe where the concept fits within the existing hierarchy Solar system astronomy | Solar system | Small solar system bodies | Comets

Provide 1-3 supporting articles Jones et al. 2017 DOI:10.1007/s11214-017-0446-5 Sekanina and Chodas 2005 2005ApJS..161..551S Lamy et al. 2013 2005ApJS..161..551S

Please include any additional comments/feedback These concepts are based on my conversations with Matthew Knight (US Naval Academy, @mmk8a )

katieefrey commented 3 years ago

Others have also expressed an interest in updating and fleshing out the comet section, so I have added these concepts. They give existing "Kreutz sungrazers" (now renamed "Kreutz group") more context, and are well defined by the Jones, et al. paper.