Stargazers love it when we set the clocks back an hour. Besides getting an extra hour of sleep, it also gets darker an hour earlier.

Currently, Mars is still an incredible sight to see. It rises in the eastern sky and is easily the brightest object. It's reddish-orange color is even more visible than normal. The red planet is just over 43 million miles away from Earth, the closest it will be until 2018.

Stargazers should wait until after 8 p.m. to see it through a telescope, however. Any time earlier and the planet will still be obscured by our planet's atmosphere.

If you stay up later, you'll see some wonderful winter constellations rising in the same part of the sky as Mars. I call this part of the sky "Orion and his Gang" because it is dominated by the majestic constellation Orion the Hunter. Around 10 p.m. is the time to view this giant.

Other highlights of the eastern sky include the Pleiades star cluster, which looks like a miniature Big Dipper, and Saturn, the most awe-inspiring planet in our solar system.

The western sky features a few summer constellations still hanging on. They include Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp, Aquila the Eagle and Delphinus the Dolphin. These and a few others are slowly migrating to the west before they exit from the night sky until next year.

In the southwestern sky, don't miss the brief appearance by Venus. This very bright planet won't rise much higher than the horizon and slips below it after 7:30 p.m.

In the southern sky, the constellations Pegasus and Andromeda stand out.

In the northern sky, the Big Dipper is barely above the horizon, with the Little Dipper hanging higher in the sky. Cassiopeia, the constellation that looks like a giant "W" is featured as well.

Normally, the biggest astronomical event this month is the Leonid meteor shower. This year it will be on Nov. 16 and 17. But a full moon at the same time will greatly reduce the amount of meteors, or shooting stars, that we'll see. The best time will be the early morning of Nov. 17, between 3 a.m. and dawn, when the moon isn't out.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer, broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the new book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available in book stores and at his Web site

www.lynchandthestars.com