SOHO discovers its 1,500th comet

GREENBELT, Md., June 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. and European space agencies say the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, known as SOHO, has discovered its 1,500th comet.

SOHO's achievement sets a record, making it more successful than all the other discoverers of comets put together, the ESA said, noting "that's not bad for a spacecraft that was designed as a solar physics mission."

SOHO's history-making discovery occurred last Wednesday.

The satellite's comet discoveries come on top of the solar physics revelations SOHO has provided during the 13 years it has been in space.

"Catching the enormous total of comets has been an unplanned bonus," said Bernhard Fleck, the European Space Agency's SOHO Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

SOHO is a cooperative project between the European Space Agency and NASA.