File:Comet_Encke.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Pierre Méchain Johann Franz Encke (recognition of periodicity)
- Discovery date
- 17 January 1786
- Mpc designation
- P/1786 B1, P/1795 V1 P/1805 U1, P/1818 W1 P/1822 L1
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ ɛ ŋ k i /
- Alternative designations
- 1786 I, 1795, 1805 1819 I, 1822 II, 1825 III 1829, 1832 I, 1835 II 1838, 1842 I, 1845 IV
- Epoch
- 5 May 2025 ( JD 2460800.5)
- Observation arc
- 239.45 years
- Number of observations
- 6,016
- Aphelion
- 4.097 AU
- Perihelion
- 0.339 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.218 AU
- Orbital period
- 3.304 years
- Max orbital speed
- 69.5 km/s (250,000 km/h)
- Inclination
- 11.344°
- Longitude of ascending node
- 334.01°
- Argument of periapsis
- 187.28°
- Mean anomaly
- 167.19°
- Last perihelion
- 22 October 2023
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 4.8
- Orbital period
- 1207.915450928053
- Image
- Comet Encke.jpg
Show 15 more facts
- Commons category
- Comet Encke
- time of discovery or invention
- 1786-01-17
- provisional designation
- 1871 V
- albedo
- 0.046
- rotation period
- 11.083
- absolute magnitude
- 15.6
- orbital eccentricity
- 0.8477496967526817
- semi-major axis of an orbit
- 2.219688710075666
- periapsis
- 0.3379482792236689
- apoapsis
- 4.101429140927664
- orbital inclination
- 11.41227811179271
- longitude of ascending node
- 334.1935846036845
- argument of periapsis
- 187.1342463695869
- mean anomaly
- 243.1260693208598
- time of periapsis
- 2460239.64951855
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Article
Comet Encke /ˈɛŋki/, or Encke's Comet (official designation: 2P/Encke), is a periodic comet that completes an orbit of the Sun once every 3.3 years. (This is the shortest period of a reasonably bright comet; the faint main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS has a period of 3.2 years.) Encke was first recorded by Pierre Méchain on 17 January 1786, but it was not recognized as a periodic comet until 1819 when its orbit was computed by Johann Franz Encke. Like Halley's Comet, it is unusual in its being named after the calculator of its orbit rather than its discoverer. Like most comets, it has a very low albedo, reflecting only 4.6% of the light its nucleus receives, although comets generate a large coma and tail that can make them much more visible during their perihelion (closest approach to the Sun). The diameter of the nucleus of Encke's Comet is 4.86 km (3.02 mi).
It reaches opposition on 8 October 2026 when it will be about magnitude 15. It comes to perihelion on 10 February 2027 when it will have a solar elongation of 10 degrees.