Now that autumn is here, the constellation Pegasus is on the rise in the eastern sky.

Conventional interpretation of this constellation is that of a horse flying upside down with small wings. I choose to see it as a majestic horse with a huge wing span, and many of my friends in the stargazing community are starting to agree.

As soon as it's dark enough, look directly above the eastern horizon for a giant diamond of four fairly bright stars that outline the torso of Pegasus, otherwise known as the "Square of Pegasus." They're easy to spot since they are the brightest stars in that area of the sky.

The star at the top of the diamond is the star Scheat, pronounced "she at." (Don't say the name of that star too fast around the kids!) Scheat is the base of the flying horse's neck. Look above Scheat for two other stars that outline the rest of the neck and another fairly faint star to the lower right of the neck that mark the horse's nose.

The horse has a multi-jointed front leg that extends upward in a curved line. To see it, start at Markab, on the right hand corner of the square of Pegasus. From there, look for a curved line of slightly fainter stars that extends up to the upper right of Markeb.

The star on the left corner of the square of Pegasus is called Alpheratz, pronounced "al-fee-rats." You can't help but see a curved line of three bright stars extending to the lower left of Alpheratz. You are looking at the wings of Pegasus.

If you look above that bright line of stars, you'll see another curved line of fainter stars. That outlines Andromeda the Princess, who is hitched on to the rear end of the horse.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio on Minneapolis and author of the new book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web sitewww.lynchandthestars.com