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.

Daylight savings for 2013 is history as of today, and it’s now dark enough for stargazing by 7 p.m.

You can make the stars your old friends and still get a good night’s sleep. The trade-off is that you have to grab that heavier coat and bundle up a little bit more. Prepare to have your lungs take in some cooler November air.

It’s worth it, though, as your eyes will take in some great celestial sights and the skies are a lot more transparent with much less moisture in the air!

Even though it’s still autumn, some of the early bright constellations of winter are already on the rise on the great celestial stage.

First off, you can’t help but see a beautiful little star cluster shining brightly in the low eastern sky, resembling a tiny dipper.

It’s not the Little Dipper. That’s in the high northern sky.

What you’re witnessing is the Pleiades star cluster, the best naked eye star cluster in the night sky. See how many stars you can see in it with your naked eye.

Can you see six? If you can your eyes are about average. If you can see seven stars you’ve really been eating your carrots! If you can see more than seven, you have super vision or you’re just kidding yourself.

A lot of you may know the Pleiades star cluster by its nickname, “The Seven Little Sisters.”

Believe me, there are a lot more than seven shiners there. With just an average pair of binoculars you may see more than a hundred stars!

The Pleiades are a group of young stars almost 2,400 trillion miles away that were born together about 100 million years ago.

If you’re still stargazing past 10 p.m. you’ll also get a look at the bright planet Jupiter on the way up in the low eastern sky.

Right now, the biggest planet in our solar system is a little less than 440 million miles away, but the Earth and Jupiter in their respective orbits are getting closer to each other. On Jan. 1, Jupiter will be at its minimum distance from us at about 390 million miles. With a telescope, even a smaller one, you should easily see the disk of the largest planet in our solar system.

Because it’s low in the sky, it may be a little fuzzy as we have to look through more of Earth’s blurring atmosphere. Nonetheless, you may see at least some of its cloud bands, and its four largest moons that orbit the big guy in periods of two to 17 days.

Depending on where they are around Jupiter, you may not see all four moons. One or more of them may be hiding behind the planet or lost in the glare in front of it. It’s fun to watch their changing positions from night to night.

In the southeastern Butler sky you can see the Great Square of Pegasus, the torso of the wonderful constellation Pegasus the Winged Horse. The square actually looks like a diamond because it is turned diagonally to our view.

You can see a long arced line of stars coming off the star that’s on the left corner of the diamond/square. That arc makes up the wing of the big celestial horse.

In the western sky there are still some summer constellations to be visually had.

Among the brighter ones are Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp and Aquila the Eagle. We won’t see them for too much longer because as our Earth orbits the sun, these stars of summer will gradually set earlier and earlier in the evening.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.