Comet Encke (2P/Encke)

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is 18h 39m 10s and the Declination is -28° 27’ 01” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is 18.61 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet Encke (2P/Encke) [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:

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Additional information about Comet Encke (2P/Encke) available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet Encke (2P/Encke)?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet Encke (2P/Encke) rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet Encke (2P/Encke)?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet Encke (2P/Encke) orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet Encke (2P/Encke) with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher 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.

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.

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) from Earth is currently 320,690,285 kilometers, equivalent to 2.143682 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17 minutes and 49.7076 seconds to travel from Comet Encke (2P/Encke) and arrive to us.

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.

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 Encke's Comet from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) to Earth happens on Sat Jul 7 2063 at a distance of 0.194182 Astronomical Units, or 29,049,243 kilometers:

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

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) is 18.61.

The observed magnitude and coma diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of comets. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated 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.

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.

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) rise and set times

Today's Comet Encke (2P/Encke) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.

Visualization of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet Encke (2P/Encke) and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Comet Encke (2P/Encke) 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. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet Encke (2P/Encke) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Oct 15	18h 22m 09s	-29° 09’ 29”	18.38	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 16	18h 24m 23s	-29° 04’ 09”	18.41	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 17	18h 26m 35s	-28° 58’ 50”	18.44	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 18	18h 28m 46s	-28° 53’ 27”	18.47	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 19	18h 30m 56s	-28° 48’ 06”	18.50	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 20	18h 33m 05s	-28° 42’ 42”	18.53	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 21	18h 35m 12s	-28° 37’ 17”	18.55	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 22	18h 37m 18s	-28° 31’ 50”	18.58	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 23	18h 39m 24s	-28° 26’ 24”	18.61	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 24	18h 41m 29s	-28° 20’ 56”	18.63	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 25	18h 43m 32s	-28° 15’ 25”	18.66	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 26	18h 45m 34s	-28° 09’ 56”	18.68	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 27	18h 47m 35s	-28° 04’ 24”	18.71	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 28	18h 49m 36s	-27° 58’ 53”	18.73	Sagittarius