There are three planets available in the evening sky.

Saturn, my favorite out of this world planet is by far the brightest, shining brightly in the high southwestern sky toward the end of evening twilight. Without a doubt, it's the brightest starlike object in that part of the sky. It's positioned just to the left of the constellation Leo the Lion that clearly resembles a backward question mark of stars leaning to the right that outlines the chest and head of a giant celestial Lion.

The second brightest is Mercury — featured last week in Starwatch — which is getting tougher and tougher to see as it starts out in the evening in the very low west-northwest sky. It quickly slips below the horizon and real darkness sets in.

The third brightest is Mars, easily seen with its orange-red glow. It's not all that far away from Saturn in the southwest sky, about 25 degrees to the lower right of the ringed wonder. That's about 2Z\x widths of your fist held at arm's length to the lower left of Saturn.

While Saturn is a sight to behold in just about any size telescope, Mars quite honestly is disappointing. I love when someone at one of my star parties begs me to point one of my big telescopes at Mars. After I acquiesce and direct the scope toward it, often times folks peer through the eyepiece and shout out something like "awesome" or "sweet". After awhile though I get them to admit that all they really saw was a reddish-orange dot.

Unfortunately this spring, Mars is a dud through even my biggest of telescopes. It's simply because it's only about 4000 miles in diameter and presently more than 169 million miles away. Mars is a lot more interesting when it's a lot closer during times of what astronomers call "opposition," which takes place every two years or so.

While Mars itself is underwhelming, it's going to put on a heck of a show this week as it passes in front of bright cluster of stars known most commonly as the "Beehive Cluster" because some say it is shaped somewhat like a cosmic beehive. See what you think.

Anyway, as it is with all planets, they appear to us on Earth to wander from night to night among the background of stars as they orbit around the Sun. Since Mars is relatively close to the sun as we are, it seems to "wander" among the stars fairly fast. This week it'll pass east across the Beehive. Watch its approach to the Beehive the next few nights. However, the big show will be on Thursday and Friday night when Mars actually passes in front of the great cluster.

Through even a small pair of binoculars I know you're going to like what you see as Mars will be with a heck of a lot of stars. Large telescopes can resolve hundreds of stars, but even through a small telescope or binoculars, you'll see at least dozens and dozens of stars back dropping Mars.

Also, with the planet's rouge hue, it should be quite a sight — one of the best cosmic events of 2008. It'll even be a good show if you're looking from an area of moderate city lighting. But if you're out in the countryside, the show will be that much better. You might even be able to see some of the stars of the Beehive Cluster with your naked eye!

The Beehive Cluster is one of the most beautiful clusters in the sky, even when it's not being invaded by Mars. Its hundreds of stars stretch over a diameter of 10 light years, lying more than 570 light years away. Just one light year equals just under six trillion miles! In fact, the Beehive is so far away, the light we see from it this week left the cluster about the time Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431. How's that for a pleasant historical event?

The Beehive, also referred to by Astronomers as Messier Object 44 or M-44 for short, is believed to be a young group of stars that were born together in a massive birth more than 700 million years ago. Believe it or not, that's considered young for stars. Our own sun is thought to be more than 5 billion years old.

Eventually, as these stars age over the eons, gravity from surrounding stars in our Milky Way Galaxy will pull the beehive apart and the bees (or stars) will go their separate way. Don't wait up for this to happen anytime soon, but in the meantime, enjoy the Martian invasion of the Beehive Cluster You'll be all a buzz over it!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.