[ATMoB-discuss] Suburban light pollution / last night's seeing

[Bruce Wilson]

I'm relatively new to astronomy and was wondering if some of you more
experienced folks could offer some advice. I went out to the Weston
reservoir last night, hoping to see a few binocular objects (10 x 50 on a
tripod). I could see most, but not all, of the stars in the Little Dipper. I
could identify most of the constellations in my planisphere and, of course,
Venus and Saturn. I was disappointed, however, that I could not see any of
the binocular objects such as M3 and others listed in
http://www.skymaps.com/skymaps/tesmn0705.pdf

So here's my question: was the problem suburban light pollution, poor
seeing, or both? Or was it my technique? Do I need to travel the 55 minutes
to the clubhouse to get darker skies, or was last night just poor seeing
(despite the lack of clouds and moon) and on another night I'll be able to
see plenty from Weston?

Suggestions? Thanks!

-- 
Bruce Wilson
617 823 8041 (c)