of 3 years, the orbit of Encke is frequently perturbed by the inner planets. Encke is currently close to a 7:2 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, and it is possible that some of the larger fragments shed by the comet, or released by a larger progenitor of the comet, are trapped in this resonance.

Encke's orbit gets as close as 0.167 AU to Earth (minimum orbit intersection distance). On 4 July 1997,