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August
16, 2002 SOHO Raises the Ante with Discovery of 500th Comet
Amateur astronomers worldwide placed their bets, crossed their fingers and waited in anticipation for the ESA-NASA Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft to spot its 500th comet. Their patience was rewarded on August 12 as SOHO, a mission actually designed to research the Sun, revealed its own type of royal flush with comet C/2002 P3 (SOHO). It is the 500th comet to be discovered by SOHO since it launched on December 2, 1995, making the spacecraft by far the most prolific comet-hunting observatory in history. Between May 2 and May 31, using the SOHO website, 1,256 amateur astronomers tracked SOHO's observations of comets and made predictions about the date and time that the 500th comet would be at perihelion (the closest approach to the Sun). Comet C/2002 P3 (SOHO) had a perihelion time of August 12 at 12:04:48 p.m. EST. Diane McElhiney won the sweepstakes with a prediction only one hour and 43 minutes away from the correct time. For more on
the discoveries of comet through the use of SOHO, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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NASA
's Mission: For a further details of the NASA mission, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/bios/vision.html NASA's Terra Satellite Refines Map of Global Land Cover Instrument Aboard NASA's Aqua Satellite Joins Twin to Begin Comprehensive Global Coverage Bulk Source of Universe's Gamma Rays Identified, Scientists Say 2001-2002 NASA Professional Development Program Graduates Honored Windows 2000 Is the NASA Standard
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