Comet Garradd on a chilly September night

I read in S&T's newsletter that comet C/2009 P1 Garradd was visible and high in Hercules in the evening so decided to try to find it tonight.  The sky was clear after a night or two of clouds but it was quite cold at 51° F.  I had to bundle up in my watch cap and insulated coveralls!  The comet was supposed to be between magnitude 6 and 7 so I just used my trusty 7x50's and a comfy deck chair.  Armed with a printout from CdC and S&T's finder chart, I started looking.  Mu, Xi, and Omi Her were naked eye visible and about a field width in my 7x50's so that made a good starting point.  Using those three as a sort of parabolic reflector, about two field widths away is a nice little 'house' asterism of 5-8 stars: 101, 102, 95, and 96 Her are the brightest of the group.  Another field width and 90° north is another bright pair: 106 and 109 Her.  I put this pair and 101/102 on the edge of the field and BINGO there was the comet almost dead center.  At first I thought something might be wrong as I was expecting something as bright as nearby HR6852 at 6th magnitude but instead the comet appeared as an elongated dim patch, dim but plainly visible particularly with averted vision.
If the weather holds out the next few days, it'll be interesting to see if the patch moves noticeably.  This is a similar view to one of my first comets back in the 70's while living on Pauline Ln in Rolla.  I compared that one to a dirty snowball.  Garradd appeared to be elongated so perhaps I'll haul out the 8" this weekend to see what it looks like with a bit more light gathering capability.  Should be fun.

SN 2011FE and a Geosync sat try

The moon and rain were gone finally so I thought I'd try to catch a glimpse of the supernova in M101 again.  I read an article in S&T online that said it was still mag 10 and easy to see so I went out about 8:30 with my 8" dob.  Oops, I forgot that the dipper and M101 were slipping behind the house to the west!  Fortunately it was still above the roof and the fog had not settled in so I got the dob pointed and BINGO there it was, south and a bit west of center of M101.  The galaxy was easier to see tonight than last time and SN 2011FE stood out like a sore thumb.  Not a bad sight for a star that's 23 million light years away!
I thought 'that was easy' and decided to swing around to M11 and try for a geosynchronous satellite.  An article in Oct S&T described how to find them but once again I wasn't able to spot one.  I found M11 ok and that put me at about -6 dec which is about where the Clark Belt should be but no cigar.  The fog was settling in so visibility wasn't good.  Maybe next time when it is clearer.
Jupiter was rising as I quit and made an eerie glow through the mist in the hollow.