My roommate wants to know when Mars is going to rise tonight. I’ve Googled a little and couldn’t find anything useful. I did findthis, which seems like it might be helpful if I had the slightest idea how to read it. We’re in Santa Barbara, CA, and if anybody knows where I could find this, I’ll be most appreciative.
Is there an observatory nearby that may list the times on its website?
Try this (requires free registration):
Weather Underground has an “Astronomy” tab among its Features: near the top of the page. From the Astronomy page, enter the Zip Code to get a sky map (defaulting to 1 pm, for some odd reason).
It is a long way from perfect, but, by “turning off” the constellations, I was able to find Mars. (The planets are color-coded and red Mars blends in with some of the grid work. It is just to the left of Virgo)
As it happens, Mars appears to have risen, this morning, between 8:00 and 9:00, meaning it is already up and hidden by the Sun (something I’m sure all real star watchers already knew). Clicking on the word “Mars” on the map presents the information from the ephemeris showing a rise time of 8:05 a.m. and a setting of 8:25 p.m., based on Zip Code 93101
Mars is practically in conjuction with the Sun right now, meaning that it’s mostly up during the daytime. If you were hoping to see Mars “as big as the full moon” last night, as that email going around claimed, I’m afraid your roomie has fallen for a hoax.
Another good site for this sort of information is the USNO. For my locale (Washington), Mars has the following rise, transit, and set times, which I’ve sampled for a few particular days in the near future:
Date Rise Az. Transit Alt. Set Az.
h m ° h m ° h m °
2006 Aug 28 (Mon) 08:04 85 14:18 55S 20:31 275
2007 Jan 01 (Mon) 05:54 120 10:36 28S 15:18 240
2007 Jul 01 (Sun) 02:02 74 08:43 63S 15:25 286
2007 Oct 01 (Mon) 23:07 59 06:34 74S 13:58 301
2007 Dec 31 (Mon) 15:48 54 23:26 78S 07:11 306
So basically, Mars won’t be visible in the evening sky again until fall of next year.
Get a program called Stellarium. 
At the Sky and Telescope site:
This Week’s Sky at a Glance column