Believe it or not, even though December is almost upon us we still have some summer constellations residing in the western Butler skies.

Just like professional sports, there’s a lot of overlap with the constellation seasons. In fact, there’s even something in the western heavens called the “Summer Triangle.”

The Summer Triangle is not a constellation, but is made up of three bright stars from three separate constellations. They’re the brightest stars in the western sky and each is the brightest in their respective constellation.

Deneb, the highest star in the west, is the brightest shiner in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Within the stars of Cygnus is the famous and easy to see “Northern Cross” with Deneb at the top of the cross and the dimmer star Albireo at the foot.

To make the cross into a swan, picture Deneb at the tail of the celestial swan and Albireo at the head. Then look for fainter stars beyond and above both ends of the crosspiece.

The fainter stars, together with the three crosspiece stars, form an arc that makes up the wingspan of the swan.

You can’t help but notice that Cygnus the Swan appears to be making a swan dive toward the western horizon. That seems appropriate because Cygnus will begin to disappear from the evening sky before the end of this month, setting before evening twilight as the Earth turns away from the big heavenly bird.

While the Summer Triangle is a wonderful part of the western evening sky in December, the big star of the west is actually the planet Jupiter.

Even before the end of evening twilight Jupiter jumps out at you in the southwestern sky. This past September, Jupiter was less than 365 million miles away, the closest it’s been to our world since 1963.

Even though it’s an additional 80 million miles away this month, it’s still a prime telescope target, even for smaller scopes. For sure you can see up to four of its brighter moons, depending on where the moons are in their two to 17 day orbits around the largest planet in our solar system.

If skies are clear and steady enough you may even see some of its horizontal cloud bands.

By the way, next week in Starwatch I’ll have my annual holiday shopping guides for telescopes and fun star watching goodies.

Also in the southwestern sky, shining above Jupiter, is the Great Square of Pegasus, the torso of Pegasus the Winged Horse.

Just to the northeast of the Square is the constellation Andromeda the Princess, with the Andromeda Galaxy just above the Princess. The Andromeda Galaxy is the next door neighbor to our Milky Way Galaxy.

Our galactic neighbor isn’t very close, though, at well over two million light years away, with just one light-year equaling nearly six trillion miles. Despite that distance, you can just see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye in the dark countryside as a fuzzy faint patch of light.

Gazing in the east after evening twilight, you’ll be bombarded with all kinds of bright stars and constellations, especially later in the evening.

You are witnessing the rising of the winter constellations, the best of the year in my opinion.

The constellations Auriga the Chariot Driver and Taurus the Bull lead the charge. Just above Taurus is the best star cluster in the sky, known both as the Pleiades and the Seven Little Sisters. This is a young group of stars, 410 light years away, that looks like a tiny Big Dipper.

After 8 p.m., Orion the Hunter, the great centerpiece of the winter constellations, takes to the low eastern sky. The three stars in a row that make the belt of the great hunter will definitely jump out at you.

Map instructions

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.

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 www.lynchandthestars.com