Comet Encke

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**2P/Encke**
Discovery

Discovered by:	Pierre Méchain
Discovery date:	1786
Alternate designations:	1786 I; 1795; 1805; 1819 I; 1822 II; 1825 III; 1829; 1832 I; 1835 II; 1838; 1842 I; 1845 IV;
Orbital characteristics ^A
Epoch:	September 22, 2006 (JD 2454000.5)
Aphelion distance:	4.11 AU
Perihelion distance:	0.3302 AU
Semi-major axis:	2.2178 AU
Eccentricity:	0.8471
Orbital period:	3.30 a
Inclination:	11.76°
Last perihelion:	December 29, 2003
Next perihelion (predicted):	19 April 2007

Comet Encke (officially designated 2P/Encke) is a periodic comet, named after Johann Franz Encke, who through laborious study of its orbit and many calculations was able to link multiple observations in 1786 (2P/1786 B1), 1795 (2P/1795 V1), 1805 (2P/1805 U1) and 1818 (2P/1818 W1) to the same object. In 1819 he published his conclusions in the journal Correspondance astronomique, and predicted correctly its return in 1822 (2P/1822 L1).

As its official designation implies, Encke's Comet was the second periodic comet discovered after Halley's Comet (aka 1P/Halley). It is unusual in that it was named after the person who calculated its orbit rather than the person who discovered it (Pierre Méchain).

Some consider the Bronze Age breakup of an originally larger comet of which Comet Enke is a member to be responsible for ancient destruction in the Fertile Crescent, perhaps evidenced by a large (unconfirmed) meteor crater in Iraq (Identified as Umm al Biinni lake [1]). The origin of the swastika has also been connected with Comet Encke.

Comet Enke is also believed by some to have been responsible for the 1908 Tunguska, Siberia Airburst (known as the Tunguska event).

The failed CONTOUR mission was launched to study this comet, as well as Schwassmann-Wachmann 3.

1 Meteor Showers
2 Comet core parameters
3 Discovery
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Meteor Showers

Comet Encke is believed to be the originator of several related meteor showers which are encountered three times - the Taurids which are encountered as the Northern and Southern Taurids across November and the Beta Taurids in late June and early July[2]. (See also Whipple, 1940; Klačka, 1999).

[edit] Comet core parameters

Diameter: 1–3 km

[edit] Discovery

See biography of Johann Franz Encke.

[edit] References

Klačka, Jozef (1999). "Meteor Streams of Comet Encke. Taurid Meteor Complex". Abstract
Whipple, F.L. (1940). "Photographic meteor studies. III. The Taurid shower."

Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., 83, 711-745.

Master, S. and Woldai, T. (2004) The UMM Al Binni structure in the Mesopotamian marshlands of Southern Iraq, as a postulated late holocene meteorite impact crater : geological setting and new LANDSAT ETM + and Aster satellite imagery. Johannesburg, University of Witwatersrand, Economic Geology Research Institute (EGRI), 2004. EGRI - HALL : information circular 382, p. 21
Master, S. and Woldai, T. (2004) Umm al Binni structure, southern Iraq, as a postulated late holocene meteorite impact crater : new satellite imagery and proposals for future research. Presented at the ICSU workshop : comet - asteroid impacts and human society, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, November 27- December 2, 2004. p. 20
Hamacher, D.W. (2005) "The Umm Al Binni Structure and Bronze Age Catastrophes", The Artifact: Publications of the El Paso Archaeological Society, Vol. 43
Hamacher, D.W. (2006) "Umm al Binni lake: Effects of a possible Holocene bolide impact", Astronomical Society of Australia Meeting 40, #15