Johann Franz Encke

Encke’s Comet has the shortest orbital period of just over three years and was the second comet after Halley’s to have its period determined. It is named after the German astronomer Johann Franz Encke (1792-1865) who announced its periodicity in 1819.

One website^(c) suggests that Encke was only part of an even larger comet, proto-Encke, sometimes identified as Tiamat in Babylonian mythology and that Encke gave birth to the Taurid meteor shower.

Victor Clube and Bill Napier published their groundbreaking book  in 1982^[290] in which they identify Encke’s Comet or more correctly its larger progenitor as having had catastrophic close encounters with the earth in the past. They expanded their book  in 1990^[291] .

A number of investigators, including Frank Joseph have adopted their findings and have attributed the destruction of Atlantis, among other disasters, to the repeated near misses by proto-Encke.

Another writer, Martin Gray, claimed that in 3113 BC proto-Encke collided with asteroids in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter causing extensive meteor showers that punctuated the Bronze Age, including the partial destruction of Atlantis^(a) . Without hard evidence we must treat this as nothing more than interesting conjecture.

A fully illustrated article detailing an encounter with Comet Encke is offered by Stuart Harris^(b) who dates this event to 8366 BC and led to catastrophic destruction across Europe. Harris also offers the possibility of a return visit during August-September 2012, if the Cluster still exists.

^(a) http://www.knowth.com/sacred-geography-1.htm

^(b) http://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2012&id=327

^(c) http://drakenberg.weebly.com/atlantis.html