Heliocodex

Every world / Comet

Comet Encke

Outline The numbers here are measured. The rest of this page is being written.

MarsSun
The path of Comet Encke round the Sun, seen from above and drawn to scale, with the white dot at its nearest point. The faint rings are the paths of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars; it crosses the paths of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars. Orbit from NASA/JPL Small-Body Database.
Kind
Comet
Distance
2.218 au from the Sun on average
Once round
3.304 years
Path
a long oval (eccentricity 0.847), tilted 11.3°
Size
4.8 km across

The comet with the shortest orbit of any bright one: a little over three years.

The SunOn the atlasIn 3D

Still being written

  1. Its tail and its head
  2. Its path round the Sun
  3. How it was found
  4. Spacecraft that have visited
  5. When to see it

Sources: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database.