These are the best of times and also the worst of times for stargazing, at least in this stargazer's opinion.

It's not a time for hothouse flowers out there. Believe me, though — if you bundle up and think warm you'll be rewarded with the best celestial show of the year.

What a great time to break in that new Christmas telescope, but even with your naked eye (and maybe some binoculars) you're bound to have lots of stars in your eyes.

Once you go outside, give yourself about 10 to 15 minutes to get used to the darkness, and if possible, the cold. Then, armed with your night vision, look in the low northeastern sky for the Big Dipper standing diagonally on its handle. Even though the Big Dipper is probably the most recognized constellation in the northern hemisphere, it's not officially a constellation.

That Big Dipper you're seeing in the cold January sky is actually the rear end and tail of the constellation Big Bear, more formally known by it's Latin name, Ursa Major.

The entire Big Bear is pretty hard to see right now because it's so low in the sky and you have to look through so much of Earth's atmosphere.

Nonetheless, look to the upper right of the Big Dipper's pot for a skinny little triangle that outlines the beast's head. Below and to the right of the Big Bear's head, you might also see two stars right next to each other, Talitha and Al Kaprah, which together mark Ursa Major's front paw.The fainter Little Dipper, otherwise known as Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is hanging by its handle, or tail, above the Big Dipper. At the end of the Little Dipper's handle is Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star.By no means is Polaris the brightest star in the sky, but it's an important one. It's what I call the "Lynchpin" of the stars.Because it shines directly over Earth's North Pole, all of the stars, planets, the sun and the moon seem to circle around the North Star every 24 hours.The main stage in the January star show is definitely in the eastern sky, as the stars of what I call "Orion and his Gang" are taking up celestial camp.Surrounding Orion in brilliance are the constellations Taurus the Bull, Auriga the Chariot Driver and Gemini the Twins. Rising a little later in the evening, just below and to the left of Orion, are the constellations Canis Major the Big Dog and Canis Minor the Little Dog. It's definitely my favorite part of the sky.The constellation Orion the Hunter all by itself is wonderful. The Hunter's bright stars are Rigel at his knee and Betelgeuse at his armpit.In fact, Betelgeuse is an Arabic name that translates into "armpit of the mighty one."The shining jewels of Orion, though, are the three distinct stars lined up in a row that depict the mighty hunter's belt. From the lower left to the upper right, the three belt stars are Anita, Alnilam and Mintaka. Nowhere else in the sky will you see three bright stars in such a perfect row.As far as planets go this month, Mars starts out the evening very high above the southeastern horizon. In November, Mars was a little over 43 million miles away, the closest it had been in over two years. Now Mars is well over 72 million miles away, and even with big telescopes you can't see much more than a small red-orange disk.Saturn, on the other hand, is just wonderful, even though it's low in the eastern skies where your eyes have to ramrod through so much of the Earth's atmosphere.Even with a small telescope you can easily make out the ring system surrounding the planet and at least some of the tiny moons that engulf the ringed wonder of our solar system.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 sitewww.lynchandthestars.com.