Comet Hartley 2 is a small Jupiter-family comet having an orbital period of 6.46 years and a perihelion distance close to the Earth's orbital distance at 1.05AU. As a result it can make some close approaches to the Earth. Under these circumstances the comet can become quite bright and be an easy binocular object. Prior to 1965, the perihelion distance was more then 1.65AU.

Comet Hartley 2 became famous in November 2010 when the Deep Impact spacecraft, as part of the EPOXI mission, flew past the comet at a distance of about 700 kilometers. Images from the flyby showed that the comet is 2.25 kilometers long, and "peanut shaped". This makes comet Hartley 2 the smallest comet yet visited by a spacecraft.

1997 Return

2010 Return