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A very short-period comet, one of the earliest comets for which an orbit was calculated and established. It was discovered in 1786 by Méchain, but its orbit was not computed until 1818, when Encke established that it passed through the inner Solar System every 3.3 years, and thus gave the comet its name. Comet Encke is associated with the Taurid meteor shower: when the Earth passes through debris from Encke's tail in late October and early November, that debris becomes visible as a shower of meteors originating in the constellation of Taurus.
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