I hope you didn't forget it's Valentine's Day weekend. Especially for guys, this could be very hazardous to your love life!

There's love all around, heavily generated by Hallmark cards, the media, and a lot of restaurants and jewelry stores. But there's also love among the stars in the night sky. Take that someone you love for a stroll under the celestial sea. It can be very romantic, provided you're bundled up, but hopefully the love between you will also heat up the night.

I want to share with you the best love story I know of in the night sky. It's the sappy saga of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia and their never-ending celestial romance.

Cassiopeia is one of the brightest constellations in the night sky, and this time of year, it's easy to spot. Just look for the upside down "W" in the northwestern sky. Cassiopeia's stars are as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper. Cepheus the King is a little more challenging to find, but unless you're blitzed with urban light pollution, you should be able to see it. Just look below Cassiopeia for five stars that outline a house with a steep roof lying on its side, pointing to the right. The star at the apex of the roof is fairly close to Polaris, the North Star.

Now, this story sure doesn't sound like a love story at first, but hang in there. The love is coming.

Queen Cassiopeia had a very high opinion of herself. In fact, whenever I gaze on Cassiopeia in the heavens, I think of the old Carly Simon song, "You're so Vain." According to Greek legend, Cassiopeia and her husband King Cepheus were the royalty who ruled ancient Ethiopia. King Cepheus was a mellow dude who liked a good time. He loved to go fishing and hunting with his buddies and hang out at the bars. He just enjoyed life.

Queen Cassiopeia was anything but mellow. She was a totally self-absorbed, type-A tyrant who single-handedly ran the kingdom with an iron fist! She also was a very beautiful woman who let her looks go right to her head. She was just like the queen in Snow White who did the mirror mirror on the wall thing. She unashamedly paraded along the streets, boasting of her beauty to peasants and the elite alike. Everyone, of course, had to bow in adoration or you wound up with your head chopped off!

Cassiopeia's ego grew exponentially day by day and became impossible to live with. Maybe that's why King Cepheus hung out with his buddies and didn't spend much time in the royal court. Despite her despicable personality, Cepheus still loved his wife very much, believe it or not.

One day, when Cassiopeia was walking along the seashore and her opinion of herself was going off the scale, she got herself and the kingdom in a real mess. She impulsively blurted out at Poseidon, the god of sea, she was more beautiful than Poseidon's wife and all ten of his daughters put together. Poseidon, like a lot of the gods in Greek mythology, was very thin-skinned and went nuts when he heard this. He drudged up a giant sea monster and sent it on a mission to destroy the entire kingdom of Ethiopia.

Cassiopeia dodged this bullet by offering to sacrifice her daughter Princess Andromeda to the sea monster to pacify him and spare the kingdom. Nice mom! As it turned out, the Greek hero Perseus rescued Andromeda and killed the giant sea monster, but that's a story for another day.

Despite this close call, Cassiopeia was as vain as ever, and one day, she really went over the edge. Early one morning, she shook her fist in the direction of Mount Olympus, home of the hierarchy of the Greek gods and goddesses, and proudly and very loudly proclaimed at the top of her lungs she was even more beautiful than Hera, the queen of the gods.

Hera possessed a bloated ego that made Cassiopeia's ego look like kid's stuff! Hera was enraged and charged down from Mount Olympus still dressed in her pajamas. That's when the real you-know-what hit the fan!

Hera got right into Cassiopeia's face with her piercing green eyes and confronted her. Violently waving her finger, Hera asked Cassiopeia if she really, really thought she had better looks than Hera's godly self. Cassiopeia screamed and repeated her boast even louder into Hera's face.

The skirmish quickly escalated into violence, and in an instant, Hera grabbed some rope and tied up Cassiopeia in her throne. Then she hoisted up Cassiopeia, throne and all, and flung her so high into the sky she got stuck in the stars, hanging upside down by the ropes. Hera then belted back to a shocked and stunned Cassiopeia, "So you think you're so beautiful? Now you show the entire world how beautiful you think you are for all eternity."

We can see Cassiopeia still tied up in her throne against her will, hanging by the ropes!

Now finally, here's the love part of this long tale.

Cepheus came home half in the bag after spending a lot of time with his pals at the 19th hole after a day on the golf course. On his way onto the palace grounds, his aides informed him of his wife's fate. Cepheus lost it right then and there. He was heartsick at the prospect of going through the rest of his life without his beloved queen, bloated ego and all. Cepheus than called out toward Mount Olympus to his fishing buddy Zeus, who also happened to be the king of the gods. He begged Zeus to send him up to the stars to be with his wife and share her celestial exile. As much as Zeus wanted to help Cepheus, he was afraid of ticking off Hera. Do you blame him?

Cepheus, though, wouldn't let up on the king of the gods. The tears flooded out of his eyes and he started to scream like a baby. Zeus couldn't take it anymore and flung his friend with pinpoint precision up to the stars, landing right next to his wife. Despite their predicament, the love between them exploded. To this night, they're still clinging to each other in the stars, more in love than ever.

In the diagram, you can see Cassiopeia tied up in her throne, but why is Cepheus depicted as Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll? That's because my daughter, Angela, who does all my art for my astronomy classes, thought that's what she was supposed to do. I told her to make the constellation that looks like a house into a king. The first king to come to her artistic mind was Elvis, and that's what she drew. I should have made her do it over again, but I liked the idea of having Elvis in the stars. We might have invented a new constellation here!

Before evening twilight ends and you check out Cassiopeia and Cepheus in the northwest sky, check out Jupiter and Venus in a close celestial hug in the very low west-southwestern sky. The two bright planets are less than one degree apart, but they might be a bit of a challenge to see because they'll be setting shortly after sunset and could be a little overwhelmed in the sun's glare, but it's worth a look.

On Monday night, the thin crescent moon also will be in the southwest during evening twilight, but a little higher in the sky.

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.