Across the skies of Prince George - Lheidli T’enneh the planets are quite literally aligning, in a celestial event known as the Great Planetary Alignment. Visible planetary alignments are somewhat common but you do have to wait for them, as the next one of note is in 2040. Speaking to CFURadio on the topic is Malhar Kendurkar, President of The Prince George Astronomical Society, who has spent less than a lightyear viewing the cosmos through the lens of the Prince George Observatory west of town near Nadsilnich, or West, Lake.
While viewing times are optimal now, the phenomenon should remain visible until about mid February. If you can’t make it out to the observatory for one of their 7pm Friday evening open-houses, Kendurkar recommends looking to the SW, and viewing the planets through a typical pair of binoculars, as they greatly amplify your ability to see Uranus and Neptune.
The Great Planetary Alignment is represented virtually with Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Saturn visible in the image which represents the SW corner of the sky, at 6:15pm January 24th. Night skies over our region will look very similar provided visibility is clear until late February. - - Ian Gregg, CFUR, Due North
Starry Night Picture Credit - stellarium-web.org
Observatory Pic Credit - https://pgrasc.org/wp/