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.

This weekend Daylight Saving Time ends, and that’s just fine with me.

First off, we get an extra hour of sleep, but more importantly for stargazers it’s dark enough for stargazing long before 7 p.m. Enjoy the stars without sleep deprivation the next day.

Even with the chill really setting in, we’re entering my favorite stargazing season. Many celestial gems are waiting for you in the November night sky. Just bundle up.

After the fun we had with all the planets in the summer and early autumn skies, the only one that’s left to enjoy is Mars. Early in the evening it’s still the brightest starlike object in sky with its orange-red glow.

At the start of evening it pops out in the fairly low south-southwest sky. You can’t miss it. Mars isn’t nearly as bright as it was in early August and it’s not nearly as close to Earth as it was back then. Right now it’s about 77 million miles away, more than double its distance on Aug. 1.

Through a small-to-moderate telescope you might see one of its polar caps and some dark splotches that are part of its extensive valley system, but honestly, it isn’t all that great of a view. It’s just getting so far away and the disk of the planet is getting smaller and smaller.

Over in the western Butler 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.

In the eastern sky you’ll really notice a lot of bright stars on the rise, especially after 8 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.

Later on 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 around Nov. 17.

Mike Lynch is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” available at bookstores and at adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.