© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

Comet 2P/Encke passes perihelion

Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Comets feed

Objects: 2P/Encke
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The sky at

Comet 2P/Encke will make its closest approach to the Sun on 26 December, at a distance of 0.34 AU.

From South El Monte on the day of perihelion it will not be readily observable since it will be very close to the Sun, at a separation of only 20° from it.

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The events that comprise the 2003–2004 apparition of 2P/Encke are as follows:

Date Event
14 Nov 2003Comet 2P/Encke passes perigee
26 Dec 2003Comet 2P/Encke passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when 2P/Encke will be visible from South El Monte day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
05 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
07 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
09 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
11 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
13 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
15 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
17 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
19 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
21 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
23 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
25 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
27 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
29 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
31 Dec 2003OphiuchusNot observable
02 Jan 2004OphiuchusNot observable
04 Jan 2004OphiuchusNot observable
06 Jan 2004SagittariusNot observable
08 Jan 2004SagittariusNot observable
10 Jan 2004SagittariusNot observable
12 Jan 2004SagittariusNot observable
14 Jan 2004SagittariusNot observable

A more detailed table of 2P/Encke's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 2P/Encke is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of 2P/Encke over the course of its apparition, as calculated from the orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC). It is available for download, either on dark background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats, or on a light background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats. It was produced using StarCharter.

Comet brightnesses

Comets are intrinsically highly unpredictable objects, since their brightness depends on the scattering of sunlight from dust particles in the comet's coma and tail. This dust is continually streaming away from the comet's nucleus, and its density at any particular time is governed by the rate of sublimation of the ice in the comet's nucleus, as it is heated by the Sun's rays. It also depends on the amount of dust that is mixed in with that ice. This is very difficult to predict in advance, and can be highly variable even between successive apparitions of the same comet.

In consequence, while the future positions of comets are usually known with a high degree of confidence, their future brightnesses are not. For most comets, we do not publish any magnitude estimates at all. For the few comets where we do make estimates, we generally prefer the BAA's magnitude parameters to those published by the Minor Planet Center, since they are typically updated more often.

No estimate for the brightness of comet 2P/Encke is currently available.

The comet's position at perihelion will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet 2P/Encke 16h50m40s 23°02'S Ophiuchus 5.5

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 1 Aug 2025

The sky on 1 August 2025
Sunrise
06:01
Sunset
19:52
Twilight ends
21:28
Twilight begins
04:24

8-day old moon
Waxing Gibbous

53%

8 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 06:05 12:46 19:26
Venus 03:10 10:16 17:22
Moon 13:47 18:55 23:58
Mars 09:48 15:56 22:04
Jupiter 03:50 10:59 18:09
Saturn 22:21 04:19 10:17
All times shown in PDT.

Source

This event was automatically generated on the basis of orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) , and is updated whenever new elements become available. It was last updated on 08 Jul 2025.

Image credit

© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

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South El Monte

Latitude:
Longitude:
Timezone:

34.05°N
118.05°W
PDT

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