Comet
Has the shortest orbital period of any known comet, returning past the Sun once every 3.3 years.
| Type | Comet |
|---|---|
| Distance from the Sun | 2.22 AU |
| Diameter | 5 km |
| Mass | 2.90 × 10¹³ kg |
| Temperature | -86°C |
| Orbital period | 1,204 days |
| Rotation period | 11 hours |
| Apparent magnitude | 7 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Discovered | 1786 |
Comets are icy bodies that vaporise as they near the Sun, and it's that boiling-off gas and dust, not the comet itself, that forms the tail.
At 5 km across, Comet Encke is less than a thousandth of the diameter of Earth.
Its mass is less than a thousandth of the mass of Earth.
It keeps an average distance of 2.22 AU from the Sun, so sunlight takes 18 minutes to reach it.
A single orbit takes 3.3 years.
An average temperature of 187 K works out at -86 degrees Celsius, colder than the 15 degrees Earth averages.
It has been on record since 1786.
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