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 to the compass points on the horizon where you're observing from. East and West on this map are not backward. 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.

Stargazing now can start a little earlier

I love it when we set our clocks back an hour to Standard Time.

First off, we get an extra hour of sleep, but more importantly for stargazers, it's dark enough for stargazing right after dinner. You can go out as early as 7 p.m.

Without a doubt, we're entering the best stargazing season of the year over Butler. Bundle up and take in the best show in the universe, your universe!

Once again this month, you might want to put serious stargazing off during the first part of this week because of the whitewashing full moon, known also as the Hunter's Moon. You'll notice the full moon this time of year takes a lot higher arc across the sky from the east to the west. That's because the full moon is always on the opposite side of the sky as the sun. Because of that, the full moon's path across the sky this time of year mirrors the sun's high arc across the heavens in late spring.

Once the full moon rises later in the evening later this week, you'll really notice there are a lot of bright stars on the rise in the eastern sky, especially after 8 or 9 p.m. The later you stay up, the more of these wonderful winter constellations you'll see.

I call this part of the sky "Orion and his Gang" because the majestic constellation Orion the Hunter is the centerpiece. Orion is up by 10 p.m., but before then, you'll see the Pleiades, the best star cluster in the sky, which looks like a miniature Big Dipper.

Over in the western sky, there are still a few summer constellations hanging in there. Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp, Aquila the Eagle, Delphinus the Dolphin and a few others are slowly migrating to the west a little more each night, making their slow exit from our celestial stage.

In the high southern sky is the primo autumn constellation Pegasus the Winged Horse, with Andromeda the Princess tagging along. Turn around and face north and you'll see old friends like the Big Dipper, barely above the horizon, with the Little Dipper hanging by its handle higher in the northern sky.

Cassiopeia the Queen, the constellation that looks like a giant sideways W, is proudly showing off her stuff in the high northeast sky. The W outlines the throne of the Queen, and Cassiopeia is tied up in that throne. She really ticked off Hera, the queen of the gods, by proclaiming that she was even more beautiful than Hera's godly self. So Hera threw Cassiopeia up into the sky, eternally bound to her throne for all to see.

The planet Jupiter, which has been regaling us since early summer, now starts out the evening moderately low in the southern sky. Jupiter and our Earth are drawing farther and farther from each other, now separated by nearly 450 million miles. Despite that distance, Jupiter is still by far the brightest starlike object in the evening sky and is a worthy recipient of a gaze with even the smallest of telescopes.

Later this month, the Leonid Meteor shower could put on quite a show. It will peak out for us in the early morning pre-twilight skies. You might see 50 to 100 meteors — or "shooting stars" — an hour. I'll have much more on the Leonid Shower.

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