© 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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Comet 2P/Encke will make its closest approach to the Sun on 3 August, at a distance of 0.34 AU.

From Ashburn 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 7° from it.

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The events that comprise the 2010 apparition of 2P/Encke are as follows:

Date Event
03 Aug 2010Comet 2P/Encke passes perihelion

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

Date Constellation Comet visibility
13 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
15 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
17 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
19 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
21 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
23 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
25 Jul 2010GeminiNot observable
27 Jul 2010CancerNot observable
29 Jul 2010CancerNot observable
31 Jul 2010CancerNot observable
02 Aug 2010CancerNot observable
04 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
06 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
08 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
10 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
12 Aug 2010SextansNot observable
14 Aug 2010SextansNot observable
16 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
18 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
20 Aug 2010LeoNot observable
22 Aug 2010VirgoNot 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 09h23m50s 14°48'N Leo 6.3

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 28 Mar 2024

The sky on 28 March 2024
Sunrise
06:58
Sunset
19:29
Twilight ends
21:00
Twilight begins
05:27

18-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

87%

18 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 07:29 14:14 20:59
Venus 06:24 12:10 17:56
Moon 22:00 03:15 08:23
Mars 05:43 11:09 16:35
Jupiter 08:42 15:39 22:36
Saturn 06:07 11:43 17:19
All times shown in EDT.

Warning

Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.

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 02 Jan 2024.

Image credit

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

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Ashburn

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Longitude:
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39.04°N
77.49°W
EDT

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