I hope you're having the best holiday season of your life and that Santa Claus treated you well and brought you everything you wanted on your gift list, plus a few wonderful surprises.

If you received that telescope that you always wanted, you have many fun nights ahead of you to get at least visually a little closer to that big universe out there.

There are several kinds of telescopes out there for your stargazing enjoyment, but for all of them there are definite do's and don'ts for successful stargazing.

If you're like me, I know you hate instructions but trust me, the following rules can really make a difference. I want you to enjoy your scope, not to have it wind up in a closet serving as an auxiliary coat hanger!

Always use your telescope outsidePoking your telescope out of the window just doesn't work. The waves of heat leaving your house will interfere big time with what you're looking at. Especially in cooler weather, it's important to set up your telescope outside and let it sit 30 to 45 minutes before you start using it. Make sure your eyepieces are out there as well.This is the number one rule for a good reason. The lenses and/or mirrors in your scope have to acclimate to the cooler temperatures outside or you will be very likely to see blurred images.

Avoid setting up your scope on any kind of wooden deck. No matter how well it's built or how solid it is, vibrations from your movements or anyone with you will jiggle around the scope just enough to drive you crazy. It's best to set up your telescope on solid ground.

As you're setting up your telescope, make sure the small finder telescope mounted on the side of your main telescope is properly aligned. This is very important because if it's out of alignment, finding any celestial object in the night sky will be anywhere from frustrating to impossible.Finder scopes can get easily bumped around and need to be readjusted every time you set up your telescope. Most finder scopes have low magnification and cross hairs. The best way to adjust it is to put a low power-wide field eyepiece in your main telescope and then, looking through the main scope, aim it toward a test target on the horizon like an American flag or a church steeple. Once you have the test object centered in your main scope, look through the finder scope and adjust the screws on the finder in such a way that the test object is centered in the cross hairs. Once that's done, it's much easier to find anything in the night sky. Just get the celestial delight you want to gaze at centered in the cross hairs of the finder scope and it should be ready for your viewing pleasure in the main scope.

Whenever you look at something through your scope, start out with a high focal length/low power magnification eyepiece.The focal length should be labeled somewhere on the eyepiece. Something like a 25 mm to 40mm focal length eyepiece should do the trick. It'll give you a wide field of view to help you find what you're looking for. Then when you find your target, increase your magnification gradually with lower focal length/higher magnification eyepieces. The image will naturally lose some clarity as you increase magnification.

Make sure your target object is at least one third of the way up from the horizon to the zenith. Otherwise you'll be looking through a lot more of Earth's blurring atmospheric shell.Also keep in mind that even if the skies are clear there may be a lot of wind in the high atmosphere, which can cause telescope targets to be less than impressive. That's what astronomers call "bad seeing" and there's nothing you can do about it. The best thing to do is to try looking at the same object again on other nights and see if it's any better.

Whenever you look at anything in your scope, try to take long continuous views of whatever you're viewing, especially the planets. Try to view for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. That will let your viewing eye get adjusted to the light level inside your scope, and you are bound to see more details.During that time you'll probably have to move the scope periodically to keep the object in view, unless you're lucky enough to have a clock driven motor that follows the stars across the sky for you.Above all, be patient with your telescope. Read all of the instructions and remember that you don't have to conquer the whole universe in one night or even one year. Amateur astronomy is a lifelong hobby and for many people like myself, a passion!<B><I>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.</B></I>