March stargazing is fantastic because you still have Orion and all of the great constellations of winter. On most nights the chill of winter has eased a bit. In fact, spring begins — at least astronomically — on March 20.

The grand winter constellation Orion the Hunter and his gang of other bright stars and planets continue to light up the southern heavens. Orion and his gang include the constellations Taurus the bull, Auriga the chariot driver turned goat farmer, Canis Major and Minor; Gemini the Twins and Orion the hunter with his three perfectly aligned belt stars.

Mars and Saturn are right in the midst of these stately constellations. Mars is to the upper right of Orion in the high southwest sky, a little over a fist-width at arm's length to the upper right of the bright Pleiades star cluster.

I wouldn't spend a lot of time looking at Mars with that new telescope you got for the holidays because the red planet is only 4,000 miles in diameter. At it's present distance from the Earth, almost 140 million miles, about all you'll see is a little reddish-orange dot. Mars won't be close enough for decent telescoping until late next year.

Saturn, shining brightly just below the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini, is much farther away than Mars at almost 800 million miles, but it's a much, much larger planet with it's ring system spanning more than 135,000 miles.Definitely aim your telescope at Saturn. You should easily be able to resolve Saturn's ring system, the main planet, and many of Saturn's moons that look like tiny little stars swarming around the planet. If you can't see all of this, you may have something wrong with your scope.Again, I want to remind you that, especially this time of year, you should make sure your telescope and all of the eyepieces sit outside and cool off for at least half an hour before you use it. It can make all the difference in how clearly you see things. Also, observe Saturn and other planets for extended periods of time. The longer you look through the eyepiece the more you'll see.In the north sky, the Big Dipper is standing up on its handle. The fainter Little Dipper is off to the left hanging by its handle. The brightest star, Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star, shines at the end of the Little Dipper's handle.Polaris is thelinchpin of the sky. The stars appear to circle around it every 24 hours since it shines directly above the North Pole.Over in the northwest sky, look for the bright sideways "W" that is supposed to be the outline of Queen Cassiopeia tied up in her throne.The story goes that Hera, queen of the Greek gods, was angry with Cassiopeia for boasting that she was even more beautiful than Hera. The queen of the gods of Mount Olympus tied her up in a throne and cast her up into the heavens, where to this day she continues her endless circle around Polaris.Over in the east, look for a distinctive backward question mark that outlines the chest and head of Leo the Lion, the first of the springtime constellations. Regulus is the moderately bright star at the bottom of the question mark that sits at Leo's heart. As March continues, Leo will get higher and higher in the sky in the early evening, as the stars of Orion and his gang sink lower and lower in the west.<B>Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web sitewww.lynchandthestars.com.</B>

To use this map, cut it out and attach it to a stiff backing. Hold it over your head and line up the compass points on the map's horizon to the actual direction you're facing. East and west on this map are not backwards. This is not a misprint. I guarantee that when you hold this map over your head, east and west will be in their proper positions. Also use a small flashlight and attach a red piece of cloth or red construction paper over the lens of the flashlight. You won't lose your night vision when you look at this map in red light.