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 backwards. 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.

There's no sense sugar coating it. Winter stargazing is not for hothouse flowers, but if you bundle up and keep your feet warm, the rewards are heavenly.

Unfortunately for true stargazers, we start out this month with a full moon. The full moon this time of year makes a high arc as it rises in the east around sunset and sets in the west around sunrise and it whitewashes out all but moderate to bright stars, making it hard to pick out constellations. Later this week, though, the moon will be pretty much out of the early evening sky.

Believe it or not, in the early evening western sky you can still see the Summer Triangle of stars, Vega, Altair and Deneb, which are the brightest stars in their respective constellations. Deneb, a star possibly more than 3,000 light-years away, is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, otherwise known by its nickname the Northern Cross. During the holiday season the cross is standing nearly upright above the northwestern horizon. This is the last call for the Northern Cross and the Summer Triangle, because next month the night side of the Earth will turn away from that part of space.

The great horse Pegasus is riding high in the south-southwestern sky with Cassiopeia the Queen, the one that looks like a bright "W" in the high northern sky. The Big Dipper is still very low in the northern sky, but you'll notice that from night to night it will gradually get higher, standing diagonally on its handle. The Little Dipper is hanging by its handle above the Big Dipper, with Polaris the North Star at the end of its handle. Because Polaris is shining directly above Earth's North Pole, it appears that all of the stars in the sky revolve around Polaris once every 24 hours, including our sun.

If you're a planet-watching fan set your alarm, because the planets are best seen in the predawn sky this month. The ringed wonder Saturn is up in the constellation Leo the Lion, the constellation that looks just like a backward question mark. The planets Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury are putting on a nice show together in the low eastern sky just before morning twilight. For the next week or so they will be in a close junction, within about five degrees of each other.

Check my Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com under conjunction junctions to get more details and charts.

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