Abstract
Following our recent successful modeling of the common origin of two of the brightest members of the Kreutz system of sungrazing comets, we now examine three other objects: C/1970 K1 (White-Ortiz-Bolelli), the most recent sungrazer discovered from Earth, C/1880 C1 (Great Southern Comet), and C/1843 D1 (Great March Comet). For White-Ortiz-Bolelli, five possible origin and orbit evolution scenarios are explored. We find that its parent was neither C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki), nor C/1882 R1 (Great September Comet), nor the comet of 1106 (the presumed parent of Ikeya-Seki and the 1882 comet). The motion of C/1970 K1 is consistent with a scenario in which the parent was an unknown fragment that separated from the 1106 comet at the same time as, or shortly before, Ikeya-Seki and passed through perihelion in 1970 June-July, shortly after White-Ortiz-Bolelli. The separation of White-Ortiz-Bolelli from this fragment is found to have occurred around the mid-eighteenth century, at a heliocentric distance of about 150 AU, with a relative velocity of 3-5 m s-1 in the general direction of the Sun and to the north of the orbital plane. On the other hand, we conclude that the 1880 comet separated directly from C/1843 D1, the second brightest known sungrazer, some 100-150 days after the 1843 comet's previous perihelion passage in the eleventh century, at 2.5-3 AU from the Sun, with a relative velocity of slightly more than 7 m s-1 in the generally antisolar direction and to the south of the orbital plane. The pattern of fragmentation of the Kreutz system's members discovered from Earth begins to resemble the evolution of the system's minor fragments detected coronagraphically from aboard the SOHO spacecraft, and there is significant qualitative similarity with fragmentation of comet D/1993 F2 (Shoemaker-Levy 9).