(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Skywatchers in the southern Interior can enjoy a planetary gathering in the night sky this month.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all becoming visible from earth. It’s the first time such a phenomenon has happened since 2004.

“It’s just exciting when you can get all the planets in the same area of the sky,” said Jack Newton, owner of the Newton Observatory Bed & Breakfast in Osoyoos.

“There not all together, they’ll be spread out, but it’s nice to be able to see so many all at once in the sky,” he said.

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Binoculars can help people get more out of the spectacle, but Newton said a telescope – even a small one – will yield great results.

“You can see the rings on Saturn, the belts of Jupiter, the polar cap on Mars are visible right now, and Venus is about half illuminated."

Dr. Chris Gainor, past president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, said the best time to watch the star show will be around 4 a.m.

It's a rare time of day, he said, as normally planetary alignments are observable in the evening.

“It’ll be worth getting up early and seeing them,” he said. “They should all be in good view now, but when we get to (June) 23 and 24, we’ll have the moon in the mix as well.”

And it will be easy to identify which planet is which, as they will be arranged in their natural order.

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“They’re in the order in which they’re going out from the sun, so that’s kind of interesting to see,” said Dr. Gainor.

The planets will be visible for the next week, but local weather needs to co-operate. And the weather conditions in Kamloops and Kelowna appear to be pretty wet and cloudy.

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