Now's a Good Time to Look Up As Mars Looks Back At You With Its Red, Baleful Eye

The other day I was puttering around in the house a couple of hours after sunset, and happened to glance out an open window. There, shining over the horizon in the east like a glowering eye, was an intensely bright red-orange "star". I stopped for a moment, surprised, then realized what was going on: The star was a planet, specifically Mars, and it's nearing opposition. If you have a telescope, know someone who does, or live near an astronomy club (