I went to Coe last night, late, after finding out I'm leaving on another international trip next week.
Jamie, last night was a different animal than last Tuesday! I had the parking lot to myself, and chained the gates to dissuade visitors. I set up East side and away from "the tree" because I was to be working low in the sky.
Last night's limiting mag was improved to 6.7 - 6.8 or so. The smoke was greatly thinned. Aircraft landing lights didn't resemble comet tails preceding the planes. The moon set behind the coastal range at about 11:22 and it didn't change color much in the process. Following that the sky darkened greatly. A small amount of fog over San Jose improved things more.
I was able to give a record my first definite viewing of M74, not the elusive hint or imagined glow of last time. (One more object to go and that completes Messier.)
Perseids were slow early on: I noted a few flashes on the ground while my eye was at glass. After 2:00, the show changed. Many more long brilliant trails. I saw at least two bright flashes: maybe from Perseids with no angular motion.
Observations? Plenty. I repeated my tries for all Herschel objects that eluded me on earlier occasions. I ranged from Oph thru Sco, Sag, Del, UMi and Cyg. I closed out three month's of observations.
I spent most time in Pegasus. Close to 30 stars were evident within the square. 7331 was stunning, finding it the way Mark showed me back in May. I was able to see more than a few hints of Stefan's Quintet: no confirmed sighting, but the glow was definitely there and it moved. I have no expectations of seeing it though my 7" OTA that appears to be at times contrast inhibiting. I did get a better view of characterizing the "glow" with Teleview plossls than with Vixen lanthanums. I cannot wait for my larger OTA/mount to arrive.
The Pliedes/Saturn/Jupiter grouping rose but I spent no time with them. I fully occupied in Pegasus overhead. I did get a good glimpse of the Orion nebula rising just as the sky lightened. Winter is coming and the sunrises are noticeably later (hooray!)
Speaking of different animals, I observe in shorts, if possible: I do as much as I can in shorts. Last night about Midnight, my leg hairs actually stood on end as I saw something big, four footed, light colored and with tail circling me at the edge of the lot watching me. After a few seconds it walked down the hill silently. :=0
Later, I heard a racket in my car. Yes, I left the windows open to give me access to the loaves of French bread and cheese. Well, our old critter friend the raccoon took advantage of the situation and grabbed a loaf after removing it from the bag. So here's this raccoon with a 2+ ft loaf of bread in his mouth just staring at me! He would not move! What a riot!
I needed this dose of stars. I'd been up since five in the morning and I never once got groggy. See y'all third quarter!