If their batteries died, I suppose that's the point of maximum current draw to heave the second hand uphill.

Yeah... Even in our rural corner of upstate New York, the artificial lights just increase constantly, never decrease. 🙁

20 seconds each. The maximum length of star exposures is usually governed by the "rule of 500" so you don't get oblong stars or star trails in each frame. Divide 500 by the focal length of your lens (and use full-frame equivalent for APS-C cameras). That'll give you a good exposure time in seconds.

I used a Sony a7iii with a Sigma DC DN 16mm lens, and took six long exposures in succession, and then stacked them in Sequator (free software), with a light-pollution reduction. But any camera with a manual mode that allows you to adjust ISO and shutter speed could work. And a cheap tripod works just fine... What equipment do you have?

CAT-skill . . . More or less. Kinda all run together.

The thin haze magnified and softened the stars. Juicy! 🌌😋🌌

Here's an article showing the shifting colors of three different stars, caused by atmospheric turbulence: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/twinkling-star-colours/

Yeah... Light pollution is getting worse everywhere. 😔 I hope someday you can travel to a dark-sky place.... I like to dream about crossing the Pacific Ocean by sailboat. Imagine all those night watches over a thousand miles from any land.

This was taken near Halcottsville, in the northwest Catskills. Not far from Roxbury and Margaretville.

It was blazing orange that night, very noticeable to the naked eye. A group of friends and I sat around gazing skyward, in awe at the celestial light show. Several good meteors flashed that night, too — all of which managed to evade my camera....

Certain stars are very distinctive. (All of this star-gazing works much better if you go out to a dark-sky area, and sit in the dark — no phone, no flashlight, nothing — and let your eyes adjust for at least a half hour.)
Betelgeuse in this photo is definitely red-orange to the naked eye. Just like seeing Mars and its reddish hue. Antares near the Milky Way core (not visible in winter) is bright red. The Orion Nebula is magenta that can be seen by the naked eye. Sirius in this photo is blue-white, but if you look around online you might find compilations of how different it can look depending on "seeing" conditions — how light is distorted and refracted in the atmosphere. Sirius, because it is the brightest star in the night sky, gets noticeably color-shifted by this effect sometimes.

Yes, you definitely can see star colors if you have a nice dark-sky area. In this pic, Betelgeuse is noticeably orange-red. And Sirius is a bright blue-white. The naked eye can also notice the magenta color of the Great Orion Nebula. Of course, long exposure photos (and vibrance/saturation adjustments) make it all more noticeable, but it's very cool to even get a glimpse of it in real life, out in the dark looking up at the sky.