We've arrived at the time of year when you can comfortably lie back on the ground and gaze upon the stars. I highly recommend it even though the stars and constellations of spring aren't nearly as vivid as the bright winter shiners.

Adding to the challenge of spring stargazing is increased daylight. You won't be able to get going on your stargazing until later in the evening, which cuts into your beauty sleep.

Despite these obstacles, it's still a great experience to lie back under the stars, especially on a hilltop or somewhere in the middle a really flat plain. Of course getting away from city lighting makes the celestial show even more fabulous.

You become one with the universe. … OK, that's stretching it a bit, but without a doubt lying back under the stars can sure give a fresher perspective on things. Problems at work and school go away for awhile, absorbed in the starry skies.

With a little more relaxation, you can imagine yourself on a spaceship traveling through the heavens. Well as a matter of fact, you are! Everybody and everything on this planet are aboard spaceship Earth, hurling at tremendous speeds in all directions.

First off, spaceship Earth is always shifting around internally. In fact all the continents of the Earth are drifting, some up to eight inches per year. North America is drifting westward from Europe at the pace of 2 to 3 inches per year. And of course we have occasional earthquakes and volcanoes.

That's nothing, though, compared to the movement of the entire spaceship Earth experiences. Even though you can't feel it, the Earth is spinning on its axis at the speed of over 1,000 miles per hour. You'd think we'd get dizzy! Evidence to Earth's rotation is how the stars relentlessly move together en masse toward west and also spin around Polaris, a star shining above the Earth's North Pole.

Oh, and by the way, as long as I brought up the North Pole, keep in mind that Earth's axis between the north and south is also wobbling in a 26,000 thousand year cycle.

We've only just begun! Along with our 1,000 mph-plus rotation speed of spaceship Earth, we're cranking along in orbit around the sun at over 64,000 miles an hour, or about 19 miles per second. But you also have to get your brain around the reality that the entire solar system is zipping along in a huge orbit around the center of our own spiral shaped Milky Way at over 600,000 miles per hour. Better hope there's not a galactic cop minding a speed trap in our home galaxy.

Now if that's not enough motion for you as you lay on your back taking in the stars, astronomers now believe that our entire Milky Way Galaxy is cruising through this part of the universe at over 1.3 million miles an hour! Have you ever thought to yourself, "I'm going nowhere in life?" Well nothing could be further from the truth!

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 website www.lynchandthestars.com