Comet 103P / Hartley 2

A closeby comet, with its tail pointing away from Earth (hidden behind the comet's large head).

Images taken: Oct. 4, 2010, by N. Seawright and Casey Kirk.

Telescope: Meade 12 in at f/5.6.

Camera: SBIG ST-10 CCD camera

Exposures: 11 red, 11 green, and 11 blue 1 min; a total of 33 min exposure.

Image processing: CCDoops + CCDSoft + Photoshop CS.

The stars and the comet have been extracted and separately aligned, then put back again.