Comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley) is a small periodic comet with an orbital period of 6.46 years. Despite its small size, the comet's core has been described as hyperactive based on EPOXI/Deep Impact data. It's spewing out large amounts of carbon dioxide, which carries rocks as large as basketballs with it. The comet has a peanut shell-like shape

I imaged the comet from the Okie-Tex Star Party. It was my first time to the venue. Except for the wind I enjoyed it thoroughly. I used an Orion ED80 and Canon T2i to capture the image. A Losmandy G11 mount was used. PhD guiding software was employed. Subs stacked using Nebulosity and processed with Photoshop CS3. I moved my truck around to block the wind as best I could.

The area/framing of the image is shown to the right.

Enchanted Skies - Astrophotography by Rich Richins (all images copyright, Rich Richins)