Solar Observatory discovers its 3,000th comet

On Sept. 13, 2015, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory—a joint project of the European Space Agency and NASA—discovered its 3,000th comet, cementing its standing as the greatest comet finder of all time. Prior to the 1995 launch of the observatory, commonly known as SOHO, only a dozen or so comets had ever even been discovered from space, while some 900 had been discovered from the ground.