Stars: A Month-by-Month Tour of the Constellations

About Mike Lynch

Mike Lynch is a native Minnesotan who grew up in Richfield Minnesota in the 1960s. He attended Saint Peters Catholic School and Holy Angels High School. After 2 years at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities he transferred to the University of WisconsinMadison and earned his B.S. degree in Meteorology in 1979. Shortly afterward he was hired as a broadcast meteorologist at WCCO Radio. He retired in 2020 after a 40-year career. Mike has covered all kinds of weather from deadly tornadoes to record cold snaps. In fact on February 2 1996 he broadcasted from Tower Minnesota when the temperature dropped to 60 degrees below zero an all-time record low for the state of Minnesota. Since he was a teenager Mikes other passion has been astronomy. He built his first telescope when he was 15 years old. For over 50 years Mike has been teaching classes and hosting star parties with community education groups nature centers and other entities throughout Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. His goal is to help people make the stars their old friends. From 2004 to 2007 Mike wrote astronomy/stargazing books for Voyageur Press. He wrote state-specific books for Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa the Dakotas Michigan New York Ohio Pennsylvania New England New Jersey the Carolinas Florida Georgia Texas Wyoming Washington Oregon California New Mexico Arizona Montana and Southern Canada. In 2007 he also wrote Mike Lynchs Minnesota WeatherWatch which was a finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards. On top of that Mike also writes a weekly Starwatch column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. His column is syndicated in several other newspapers across the United States. Mike lives in Eagan Minnesota with his wife Kathy. He has two children Angie and Shaun. Mike also enjoys astrophotography and has shared many of his better photos in this book.