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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:46 
Transit: 12:58 
Sunset: 21:12
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Comets » 

Comet Encke (2P/Encke)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 1:42 | Tran: 7:36 | Set: 13:31
Alt: 16.05°   Az: 247.63°   Direction: West-South-West

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is in the constellation of Pisces, at a distance of 616,093,192.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 23h 40m 30s and the Declination is -00° 39’ 20” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is 21.33 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in Pisces on June, 07 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in Pisces on June, 07 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

2P/Encke
RA: 23h 39m 12s
Dec: -00° 47’ 48”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet Encke (2P/Encke). Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet Encke (2P/Encke)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

23h 40m 30s
-00° 39’ 20”
04h 10m 50s
03h 51m 21s

J2000

23h 39m 12s
-00° 47’ 48”

Additional Information

Pisces
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
21.33

The observed values of Magnitude, Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted Magnitude as a directional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 90.7°
Max altitude: 37.9°
Azimuth: 269.3°
  • 2P/Encke is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the West-South-West direction at an altitude of 16.05° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 2P/Encke is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Earth is currently 616,093,192.0 kilometers, equivalent to 4.1183286174 Astronomical Units. Light takes 34m 15.066s to travel from Comet Encke (2P/Encke) and arrive to us.

616,093,192.0
4.1183286174
34m 15.066s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 2P/Encke from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) to Earth happens on Sat Jul 5 1997 at a distance of 0.190257 Astronomical Units, or 28,462,061 kilometers:

Sat Jul 5 1997
28,462,061
0.190257

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet Encke (2P/Encke), according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) at epoch 06 January 2017 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457760.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.84833408
Orbit inclination i 11.77822630°
Perihelion distance q 0.33590100 AU
50,250,075 km
Aphelion distance Q 4.09358455 AU
612,391,533 km
Semi-major axis a 2.21474278 AU
331,320,804 km
Orbital period period 3.2960 years
1,203.8805 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2017-Mar-10 02:13:14
2,457,822.5925 JD
Next perihelion transit 2020-Jun-25 23:21
2,459,026.4730 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 186.56269392°
Longitude of the ascending node node 334.56005331322°
Mean anomaly M 341.43228384528°
Mean motion n 0.29903301°/day
2h1>Orbit Visualization
Orbit Diagram of Comet Encke (2P/Encke)
View Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 May 31 23h 38m 10s -01° 01’ 07” 21.39 Pisces
2025 Jun 01 23h 38m 31s -00° 57’ 59” 21.38 Pisces
2025 Jun 02 23h 38m 52s -00° 54’ 54” 21.37 Pisces
2025 Jun 03 23h 39m 11s -00° 51’ 54” 21.37 Pisces
2025 Jun 04 23h 39m 30s -00° 48’ 57” 21.36 Pisces
2025 Jun 05 23h 39m 48s -00° 46’ 05” 21.35 Pisces
2025 Jun 06 23h 40m 06s -00° 43’ 17” 21.34 Pisces
2025 Jun 07 23h 40m 23s -00° 40’ 32” 21.33 Pisces
2025 Jun 08 23h 40m 39s -00° 37’ 52” 21.33 Pisces
2025 Jun 09 23h 40m 54s -00° 35’ 16” 21.32 Pisces
2025 Jun 10 23h 41m 09s -00° 32’ 45” 21.31 Pisces
2025 Jun 11 23h 41m 23s -00° 30’ 18” 21.30 Pisces
2025 Jun 12 23h 41m 36s -00° 27’ 56” 21.29 Pisces
2025 Jun 13 23h 41m 48s -00° 25’ 38” 21.28 Pisces

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