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's horizon to the actual direction you're facing. 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.

I hope you enjoy watching the great planet Jupiter rising in the east these early autumn nights as much as I do. It's the first "star" to pop out well before evening twilight ends.

As I told you last week in Starwatch, Jupiter is the closest and brightest it's been since 1963, and won't be this bright and close again until 2022.

Right now, it's 370 million miles away from Butler and ready for you to take it all in. You simply must take in Jupiter with even a small telescope, but if you have a chance to see it with a larger scope do it.

Even with smaller scopes you can clearly see Jupiter's cloud bands, depending on where it is in its rapid nine hour rotation. It's also fun to watch the changing positions of the four brightest moons from night to night as they do their cosmic dance around the 88,000 mile diameter planet.

As a bonus, you can use Jupiter to see Uranus, some 1.8 billion miles from Earth but nearly along the same line of sight as the largest planet in our solar system. It's only 1.5 degrees to the upper right of Jupiter, within the field width of most binoculars.

Uranus will have a definite greenish tinge to it and is the next brightest celestial object you'll run into just to the upper right of Jupiter. If you didn't catch my column last week, go back and check it out online. It's all about the great 2010 Jupiter/Uranus show as well as helpful hints for observing with your telescope.

Along with Jupiter in the eastern half of the evening October skies, the stars and constellations of autumn and early winter begin their nights higher and higher in the sky.

The best one, in my opinion, is Pegasus the Winged Horse, now flying higher in the east with the Andromeda Galaxy just above its wing. In the low northeast, look for the bright star Capella leading in the constellation Auriga, one of the first wonderful constellations of winter.

Meanwhile in the western heavens, what's left of the summer constellations is still hanging in there. The "Summer Triangle" stars Vega, Altair, and Deneb make it easy to find the constellations Lyra the Harp, Aquila the Eagle, and Cygnus the Swan.

Also in that same part of the sky is one of my favorite little constellations, Delphinus the Dolphin. Just look for a faint little diamond of four stars that outline the dolphin's body and another faint star next to the diamond that marks the swimming mammal's tail.

Because of Earth's orbit around the sun, the nighttime side of the Earth faces a slightly different direction in space during the course of the year, determining which constellations we see and don't see. Over the course of this coming month you'll notice that the stars in the western half of the sky start out lower and lower as evening begins. Eventually, by the end of October, some of the stars that were in the low western sky at the beginning of the month will already be below the western horizon before dark.

In the north are the ever-faithful northern constellations that are always above our horizon, even during the day when they lose out to daylight.

The Big Dipper is nearly upright now in the low northern sky. The Big Dipper is not an "official" constellation but makes up the rear end and tail of the constellation Ursa Major, otherwise known as the Big Dipper.

By far, the brightest part of the Big Bear is the Big Dipper, and quite honestly the rest of the bear's anatomy is too difficult to see because it's so low in the sky.

Just above the Big Dipper is the fainter Little Dipper, proudly standing on its handle. The Little Dipper is otherwise known as Ursa Minor, the Little Bear.

Another circumpolar constellation is Cassiopeia the Queen, which resembles a giant sideways W in the northeastern heavens. Just a little to the upper left of the Queen is Cepheus the King, looking like a faint, upside down house with a steep roof.

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