Comet, No...Meteor, Yes!

Attempting to locate, let alone clearly photograph Comet Hartley 2 (formally designated as Comet 103P/Hartley), in the northeast sky on the night of Tuesday, October 19, 2010, I shot this 30-second exposure in the direction of its charted position. 30 seconds produced only a vague and extremely faint spot (yellow arrow), but during the exposure, an unexpected meteor (red arrow) streaked from near the comet's origin point over my head. From the camera's perspective, the meteor travels upward in the photograph. The meteor was part of the Orionid shower, two days ahead of its peak time. Some websites declared that Comet Hartley 2 would be visible to the naked eye on October 20, but even a close scrutinization of the area with binoculars produced nothing obvious to me. Clouds and a three-quarter moon were also a constant interference. The bright star at center is the 0.06 magnitude Capella, in the constellation Auriga. The meteor streak appears to nearly bisect Capella in its flight. Shot at 10:50 PM at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (f/3.8, 500 ISO, 22mm focal length).