I am a periodic comet with a short orbital period.
My name was given when first observed in 1786, recognized as periodic by Johann Franz Encke in 1819.
I was named by Johann Franz Encke.
I'm named after Johann Franz Encke, who calculated my orbit and recognized it as a periodic comet.
My name refers to Johann Franz Encke, the astronomer who studied my periodicity.
An interesting fact is Encke's Comet has one of the shortest known orbital periods of any comet, at about 3.3 years, and is associated with the Taurid meteor shower.
