Image of comet 168/P Hergenrither taken on November 3rd, 2012 from my Raleigh observatory. Carl W. Hergenrother discovered this comet on November 21, 1998, on CCD images obtained by Timothy B. Spahr with the 16-inch Schmidt telescope used in the Catalina Sky Survey. He estimated its magnitude as 17.3. Although the first calculations indicated that the comet had a parabolic orbit (one that would not allow it to return), within a month astronomers had refined their data and determined that it was a periodic comet with an orbital period of 6.9 years. Because of its periodic nature, the comet now carries the designation 168P/Hergenrother.