Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Comet Encke / ˈ ɛ ŋ k i /, or Encke's Comet (official designation: 2P/Encke), is a periodic comet that completes an orbit of the Sun once every 3.3 years. (This is the shortest period of a reasonably bright comet; the faint main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS has a period of 3.2 years.)
Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage [1] (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes used to mean any comet with a periodic orbit, even if greater than 200 years.
Thus the orbital period in low orbit depends only on the density of the central body, regardless of its size. So, for the Earth as the central body (or any other spherically symmetric body with the same mean density, about 5,515 kg/m 3, [2] e.g. Mercury with 5,427 kg/m 3 and Venus with 5,243 kg/m 3) we get: T = 1.41 hours
When is the best time to see the comet? The comet will make its closest approach to Earth on June 2, when it will be about 144 million miles from our planet and offer another opportunity to see it.
These comets come from the Kuiper belt and scattered disk, beyond the orbit of Pluto, with possible origins in the Oort cloud for many. For comets with an orbital period of over 1000 years (semi-major axis greater than ~100 AU), see the List of near-parabolic comets .
On Wednesday, the comet made its closest approach to our sun and on Saturday, October 12 at 11:39 a.m. it will be just 43,911,824 miles from Earth (its closest pass). At that time, the comet's ...
It's steadily moving away from the Earth after reaching its closest point on Saturday. If you miss this chance, the comet won't return for 80,000 years. Social media users share images of Comet C ...
This is a list of periodic comets that were numbered by the Minor Planet Center after having been observed on at least two occasions. Their orbital periods vary from 3.2 to 366 years. As of October 2023 [update] there are 471 numbered comets (1P–471P). [ 1 ]