About 2P/Encke
2P/Encke is a rare comet. It swings within 0.338 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
An Encke-type comet, on an unusually tight orbit that never even reaches out as far as Jupiter.
Rare comet 46 EP
2P/Encke
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 4 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Encke-type comet (never leaves Jupiter's reach) +22
- Darker than charcoal +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
Total score 46
4 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Encke-type comet (never leaves Jupiter's reach) · +22
- Darker than charcoal · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. An Encke-type comet, on an unusually tight orbit that never even reaches out as far as Jupiter.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 0.34 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mercury.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 3.3 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.34 and 4.1 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 0.5× the height of Mount Everest.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 8.8 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
- Growing a tail. Once inside roughly the orbit of Mars the ice starts turning straight to gas, blowing out the coma and tail that make a comet a comet.
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion — it is blown, not dragged.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.046
- aphelion au
- 4.1
- designation
- 2P
- diameter km
- 4.8
- eccentricity
- 0.8477
- full name
- 2P/Encke
- inclination
- 11.41
- mean motion deg day
- 0.298
- moid au
- 0.167
- name
- 2P/Encke
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- ETc
- perihelion au
- 0.338
- rotation period h
- 11.083
- semi major au
- 2.22
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 2P/Encke is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why 2P/Encke is a rare comet
2P/Encke scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Encke-type comet (never leaves Jupiter's reach) and Darker than charcoal — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.