I love December stargazing. We max out on nighttime this month with more than 13 hours of totally dark skies, and these dark skies become occupied by some of the best constellations of the year.

Bundle up, get out that comfy reclining lawn chair, brush away the snow, and enjoy the cold clear Pennsylvania nights.

If you have neighbors who are within eyeshot, they may think you've lost your mind lounging in lawn chairs, but they're missing out on great show!

Keep that warm coffee or hot chocolate handy or maybe even some hot apple cider.

In fact, if it's clear enough

tonight,

look low in the western sky around 6 p.m. for Venus and the new crescent moon in a close celestial embrace. You'll have to have a low flat western horizon to see it, but it's worth traveling out of your backyard if you have to.

Venus, the very bright planet we've been enjoying most of the fall after evening twilight, will only be about 3 degrees away from the crescent moon. Now if you look at Venus this evening with a good pair of binoculars you'll see that Venus is also crescent shaped.

Our neighbor is also drawing closer to the Earth. Right now, Venus is only 43 million miles away and by the end of the month it'll only be 26 million miles from Earth. Even though it'll be even closer by New Year's Eve, there's not much to see since Venus will be an even smaller crescent by then. It's no big loss though because Venus has a permanent cloud cover engulfing the entire planet.

Our other planetary next door neighbor, Mars, is backing away from us this year after a close encounter with Earth early last month. It's still the brightest starlight object in the eastern half of the sky right now and you can easily see its reddish hue with just the naked eye.

Tonight, the 4,000-mile-diameter planet is more than 53 million miles away, about 10 million miles further away than it was a month ago. But by the end of this month, goodbye Mars. It'll be more than 72 million miles away.

Through a small- to moderate-sized telescope right now you may see some dark patches on Mars, which is part of its vast canyon system, but by Christmas there won't be much to see on the red planet.

The later you stay up in the evening, the more you'll see in these December night skies. By 8 to 9 p.m. you'll easily see Orion the Hunter, that wonderful winter constellation rising in the east. Its calling card is three bright stars in a row that make up Orion's belt.

Preceding Orion are the bright autumn constellations Taurus the Bull with the wonderful Pleiades Star Cluster. Also ahead of Orion is Auriga, the constellation that looks like a lopsided pentagon with the bright star Capella. Auriga is supposed to be a retired chariot driver turned goat farmer.

Just to the north of Orion is the constellation Gemini the Twins, with the bright star Castor and Pollux at the position on the forehead of the Twins. Right behind Castor and Pollux is the planet Saturn. Now this is a planet, with its great ring system and cluster of moons, that is worth looking at anytime with even a small telescope.

Saturn is drawing closer to the Earth over the next several months and will be a real gem in our skies all winter long!

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

www.lynchandthestars.com