Populations of the Kreutz Sungrazer System in a SOHO Database

Abstract: Discovery of nine populations in a set of 193 select SOHO Kreutz sungrazers (Sekanina 2021) is confirmed for the first time via a histogram of the true longitudes of the ascending node, constructed for a revised set of 220 select sungrazers imaged exclusively by the SOHO's C2 coronagraph. Marsden's orbits are approximately corrected for effects of the out-of-plane nongravitational force. Population I displays two peaks in the histogram, one presumably belonging to a side branch alike to Population Pe, but with no related naked-eye sungrazer known. Swarms/clusters of objects are commonplace, providing evidence on cascading fragmentation proceeding throughout the orbit. Augmentation to all C2-only SOHO Kreutz comets, aimed at removing deliberate bias against Populations I and Pe, reduces the appearance of Populations Ia and Pre-I to bulges along the slope of the histogram because of the swollen wings of Populations I and Pe, respectively. Populations II through IV change very little or not at all. The high Population I-to-II abundance ratio, of 14:1, may be a product of temporal limitations in fragment release. A drop in the number of fragments toward the ends of the nodal-longitude distribution, especially from Population II to IV, is in line with the contact-binary model.