THE SATURN-MARS-REGULUS PARADE: Each night this week the best time to see the remarkable arrangement of two planets and a star is about 9:30 to 10 p.m. The direction is where the sun went down - and low in the sky. For the first few nights, you won't see the moon over there. Instead, you should be looking for first the steady point of light that is Saturn. Then, as darkness deepens, scan about half the width of your fist at arm's length to the lower right of Saturn. Can you see the dimmer specks of the steady-shining Mars and the twinkling star Regulus?

On any night when haze is thick you'll probably need binoculars to see these objects low in the dusk sky. If your binoculars' field is at least 5 degrees wide, you should be able to fit all three in one view. In fact, tonight Mars will be only of a degree directly above the slightly brighter Regulus. That's a close-enough pairing to fit in the low-power field of many telescopes. A telescope will show Mars as a tiny orange speck and Saturn as one several times wider with perfect rings encircling it.