A short-period comet that goes round the Sun every 3.3 years, at perihelion about February 2027
Returns in February 2027. First in reach from Georgetown about 27 November 2026 to 27 January 2027, with a camera.
Returns in February 2027. First in reach from Georgetown about 27 November 2026 to 27 January 2027, with a camera.
Tonight from Georgetown it is highest at 11:16 pm GYT, 77 degrees up in the north (high up). When the sky turns fully dark at 6:50 pm it stands 24 degrees up in the east. It sinks below 20 degrees at 3:59 am. It is at least 10 degrees up for 9.7 hours of darkness.
At about magnitude 17.3 (measured) it reads 17.3 through the air at that height. From Georgetown's sky, where the faintest star overhead is about magnitude 4.3, a comet has to read 3.3 for the naked eye, 6.8 for binoculars, 8.4 for a small telescope and 12.1 for a camera. So it is out of reach tonight.
From Lethem, under a dark interior sky: Returns in February 2027. First in reach from Lethem about 5 November 2026 to 26 January 2027, with a small telescope.
Face north (azimuth 359 degrees) at 11:16 pm GYT and look high up, 77 degrees above the horizon. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10 degrees.
A comet's gas tail points away from the Sun: at that minute the anti-Sun direction leans 25 degrees to the right of straight up. It is 166 degrees from the Sun in the sky and 158 degrees from the Moon, which is 3% lit.
Against the stars it moves about 89 arcseconds an hour, so it is in the same field of view all night and a little further along the next night.
A window is a run of nights on which it is at least 10 degrees up with the Sun at least 12 degrees down and its forecast brightness reaches a camera or better from Georgetown. The forecast is from how the comet behaved on past returns.
From 28 January to 21 February 2027 it is hidden in the Sun's glare from Georgetown: 25 nights, around its closest pass to the Sun on 10 February 2027.
From 4 January to 4 April 2028 it is hidden in the Sun's glare from Georgetown: 92 nights.
| In reach | Best night | Best time | Height and direction | Gear on the best night | Forecast magnitude | Nights at each rung |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 November 2026 to 27 January 2027 | 25 January 2027 | 6:47 pm GYT | 15 degrees, west | Camera | about 7.8 (likely 7.1 to 8.5) | 62 camera |
| 22 February to 13 March 2027 | 22 February 2027 | 5:20 am GYT | 10 degrees, south-east | Camera | about 8.1 (likely 7.5 to 8.7) | 20 camera |
Observers reporting to COBS measured it at about magnitude 17.3: the median of 30 reports of every kind (camera measurements included) from 6 observers in the 10 days to 7 October 2026, ranging from 16.5 to 17.8. It is brightening.
The forecast comes from past returns (2013, 2017, 2020, 2023): a law fitted to 306 eye estimates before perihelion and 105 after, with the Earth's distance at the time removed and this return's put in. Comets do change between returns.
On its best night from Georgetown, 25 January 2027, it could be about 7.8 (likely 7.1 to 8.5), reading 8.7 through the air. Chance of the naked eye: no real chance. Binoculars: no real chance. A small telescope: about 21%. The range is one standard deviation either side: about two forecasts in three land inside it.
Catalogue estimates, shown as a cross-check and never as how bright it will look: JPL's law gives 17.3 tonight and the Minor Planet Center's gives 17.6. Catalogue laws missed this season's measured comets by 2 to 4.5 magnitudes.
A comet's light is spread over a fuzzy patch, so it is harder to see than a star of the same magnitude. That is why the gear rungs ask for a magnitude in hand.
Plan for 25 January 2027: aim at azimuth 266 degrees, altitude 15 degrees, at 6:47 pm GYT.
On a fixed tripod keep each exposure short enough that the stars stay round, then stack many frames. For a long stack, align on the comet as well as on the stars: it drifts against them from frame to frame. A dark site adds more than any lens.
2P/Encke passes closest to the Sun (perihelion) about 10 February 2027, at 0.339 au, where 1 au is the Earth's distance from the Sun. One orbit takes 3.30 years. The orbit is tilted 11.3 degrees to the Earth's and its eccentricity is 0.8473 (0 is a circle, 1 an open curve).
Tonight it is 2.07 au from the Sun and 1.09 au from Earth, still approaching the Sun.
Orbit: NASA/JPL Horizons osculating elements, solution JPL#K273/20, retrieved 8 October 2026. Positions on this page are computed from them in your browser and agree with JPL's own tables to half an arcminute.
The comet with the shortest known period, 3.3 years. Its dust gives us the Taurid meteors.
2P/Encke is a short-period comet that goes round the Sun every 3.3 years. The "P" in 2P marks a periodic comet, and the number is the order in which its return was first confirmed.
Brightest eye estimate reported to COBS on each past return: 2013: magnitude 6.6, 14 days before perihelion, 0.49 au from the Sun and 0.74 au from Earth; 2017: magnitude 7.2, 14 days after perihelion, 0.50 au from the Sun and 0.79 au from Earth; 2020: magnitude 7.3, 8 days after perihelion, 0.39 au from the Sun and 0.99 au from Earth; 2023: magnitude 7.5, 8 days before perihelion, 0.41 au from the Sun and 1.09 au from Earth. How bright a return looks depends as much on how near the Earth it passes as on the comet.
Orbits: NASA/JPL Horizons (Giorgini, JD and the JPL Solar System Dynamics Group), data retrieved 2026-10-08.
Catalogue brightness laws: JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Observed brightness: COBS Comet Observation Database (https://cobs.si) and its contributing observers, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Data updated 8 October 2026. "Measured" means: Observers measured this in the last 10 days.
Gear rungs and ranges are estimates for a typical observer: your eyes, your sky and the night will differ.