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June 27, 2021
Historically, Halley's comet, discovered in the 18th century, is associated with a fundamental change in the understanding of the nature of comets, since the frequency of its returns was proved. Prior to this, comets were considered "random aliens" flying through the solar system in open orbits. Encke's comet was the second for which the periodicity of returns was proven. Thus, new scientific ideas about the nature of comets were strengthened.
Orbit of Comet Encke (2P / Encke)
The comet was discovered in 1786 by the French astronomer Pierre Mechein at the Paris Observatory, but it got its name in honor of the German astronomer Johannes Encke. Thanks to painstaking calculations of its orbit, he was able to connect the observations of the comet in different years and predict its appearance in 1822. As a result, it turned out that the comet has the shortest period of revolution around the Sun among all known comets - 3.3 years. The official name is 2P / Encke.
In the second half of the 19th century, it was found that the comet's orbital period is gradually decreasing. Some scientists believed that this was proof of the presence of ether, a hypothetical substance that is the medium for the propagation of light. This substance (ether), in their opinion, slowed down the motion of the comet. In fact, the reason for the deceleration is the constant loss of matter during flights near the Sun.
A snapshot of Comet Encke on January 5, 1994. Kitt Peak National Observatory, USA
Comet Encke is considered the ancestor of meteor showers called Taurids. Supporters of the cometary nature of the Tunguska phenomenon believe that the space object that exploded over the Earth in 1908 belonged to this meteor shower. The comet's estimated diameter is approximately 4.8 km. Given the very frequent passages near the Sun, the comet from the moment of its discovery could have lost about 80% of its mass and soon, having used up the entire supply of volatile components, may cease its activity.
Source: Moscow Planetarium.
Related article:
Mission Stardust and Comet Wild 2
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/06/mission-stardust-and-comet-wild-2.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/31626/
Comet: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/kometa/
Moscow Planetarium: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/moskovskiy-planetariy/
Images, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Moscow Planetarium/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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