If you give or get a personalized Valentine's gifts from a star naming company, there are plenty of ways to enjoy a little romantic stargazing that don’t involve freezing your buns off in the back yard. Does your community have a college observatory or a planetarium? Many offer Valentine's-Day-under-the-stars-type events, offering you a special opportunity to search the stars and enjoy Valentine's food, drink and other activities. In some areas, local hotels offer rooftop stargazing events, which get you above some of the city lights that otherwise make star viewing difficult.

At planetarium events, you may lack the freedom to explore the night sky at your leisure as the organizers probably have the viewing schedule already planned. But any rooftop event could be perfect for finding a certain star if you have a pair of binoculars or telescope handy. Depending on the weather, location of the rooftop event, and constellation-viewing season, you may be even able to spot your gift star.

Binary stars are basically two stars that orbit around a common location, or a center of mass. Most people don't think of stars orbiting — after all, in our own solar system the planets revolve around the sun. But the sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Binary stars do indeed orbit. They are considered binary stars when their orbits follow something called Kepler's Laws. These laws apply to objects that orbit in a particular way. Binary stars follow each other in orbit around the center of mass, and the center of mass must be a common focus for both stars. Otherwise, they technically may not be binary stars after all, but very close neighbors.