2P/Encke
The shortest orbit of any known comet at 3.3 years, and the parent of the Taurid meteors.
Where it is right now
2P/Encke is in Pisces, 2.28 AU away.
Computed for 2 August 2026, 17:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
Facts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Diameter
- 4.8 kmSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbital period
- 3.3 yearsSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Distance from the Sun
- 2.220 AU on averageSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 0.848, inclined 11.4 degrees to the eclipticSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Class
- Encke-type cometSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Discovered
- 1786-Jan-17 by Mechain, Pierre F. A.Source: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 2.4 km
- Diameter
- 4.8 km across
Orbit
Elements are heliocentric, referred to the J2000.0 ecliptic.
- Average distance from the Sun
- 2.220 AU (332.1 million km)
- Closest and furthest
- 0.338 AU (50.56 million km) to 4.101 AU (613.6 million km)
- Eccentricity
- 0.8478, highly elongated
- Inclination to the ecliptic
- 11.41 degrees
- Orbital period
- 3.3 years (1,208 days)
- Longitude of ascending node
- 334.19 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 187.13 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 288.70 degrees
Claim this body
$149 per year
Rides its real orbit on a highly elliptical path, and sweeps the inner system at perihelion. Leased annually.
Wave 3 is not open yet, so this body is not for sale today. Wave 1 is.
A claim is a listing on this map. Not an IAU designation. Permanent, with one disclosed exception for dead links: see the terms.
Catalog id encke. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.