between july 12–17, 2012, 96p/machholz was visible in the soho lasco/c3 field of view and expected to brighten to about magnitude +2. two small faint fragments of 96p/machholz were detected in the soho c2 images. the fragments were five hours ahead of 96p/machholz, and probably fragmented from the comet during the 2007 perihelion passage.