Here we go again, Valentine's Day is coming.

It's what my mother calls a "Hallmark Card" holiday. Nothing against Hallmark cards but let's face it, Valentine's Day is a bit of a trumped up multimedia driven holiday.

It seems like just as the Christmas décor leaves the stores, usually by about Dec. 26, the Valentine cards hit the shelves. Also, things like reservations at finer restaurants for this coming Wednesday night become harder and harder to get.

Now I don't want to come on like the Valentine's Day grinch. All of the flowers, candies, cards, etc. are fine, but how about doing something different this year, something truly cosmic.

Arrange a date with the one you love, or the one you are trying to love, under the stars.

OK, I know it's winter and it's cold but trust me, the right combination of sweaters and winter coats, along with a lot of snuggling, will chase the chill away.

I'm not asking you to stay out all night, in fact, I suggest some early evening stargazing and then hitting that nice restaurant, fireplace, or … whatever.

If you can, pack some reclining lawn chairs and warm beverages and head out to the countryside where you can really see the stars, or just go out to a dark part of your backyard or even a city park, but avoid those streetlights!

Get a map of the February evening skies. You can download one from my Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.

Shortly after sunset, gaze toward the low southwest sky and see if you can see the first star of the night popping out. You can't miss it! It's very bright.

It's actually not a star, but the planet Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love. How about that for starting off a romantic night of stargazing?

Venus is the second planet out from the sun and this week it's just more than 140 million miles from Earth. Venus is nearly the same size as the Earth, right around 8,000 miles in diameter, but that's where the comparison ends.

There's nothing lovely about the goddess of love. It's your basic celestial hell hole. Sorry to break up the mood here!

In fact, the reason Venus is so bright is that it's covered by a very thick cloud deck which is a very good reflector of the sun's light. Planets have no light of their own and the only way we see them is due to sunlight reflecting off them, and the cloud shroud of Venus does this very well!

Underneath these poisonous clouds made up of carbon dioxide, sulfur and other wonderful stuff, the temperature at the surface of Venus can be as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is even hotter than Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, because the thick clouds of Venus are producing a greenhouse effect that's gone mad. Solar radiation can reach the surface but outgoing terrestrial radiation is very slow to leak out of the clouds, so global warming is an undisputed fact on our Venusian neighbor.

Oh, one more thing … along with a temperature hotter than a boss' temper, there are occasional sulfuric acid rain showers. What a paradise!

Speaking of Mercury, it's also visible in the late twilight, say after about 6:15 p.m. or so. Just look for a dimmer "star" about 12 degrees, or a fist-width at arm's length, to the lower right of Venus. Don't wait too long to find Mercury, however, because it sinks below the horizon before 7 p.m., with Venus following behind it, setting by 8 p.m.

After you're done with Venus and Mercury, turn your celestial sights to the southeast toward the constellation Orion the Hunter, my favorite constellation.

On the upper left corner of Orion, above the three bright stars in a row that make up the hunter's belt, is what I call "the star of love." I'm talking about Betelgeuse, the second brightest star of Orion. Betelgeuse is an Arabic name which roughly translates to English as "Armpit of the Great One." That's right, Betelgeuse marks the armpit of Orion.

So what the heck does Betelgeuse have to do with love? The answer is three fold. First of all, you can easily see it's a distinctly orange-red hue, which gives it that Valentine look.

Secondly, Betelgeuse behaves like a beating heart, only a lot slower. Betelgeuse pulsates in size in a six-year cycle, as it goes from over 400 million miles in diameter to almost a billion miles in girth! Thirdly, Betelgeuse is a big heart star, because even at it's smallest it could fit more than 160 million of our closest star, the Sun, inside of it!

After you're done with Betelgeuse, keep stargazing with the one you love. Believe me, it's a Valentine's night you'll never forget.

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 site www.lynchandthestars.com