Practical difficulties in the Quebec forest.
In 2020 Jupiter and Saturn, the most photogenic planets aside from that one we are standing on (Earth, that is) are very low in the southern sky. Great if you live in the southern hemisphere - but not so good for Canadians! In my own case those planets have been blocked by the trees at the Lac Teeples Deep Sky Observatory since the “observatory” was “founded” in 2019.
The planets follow the ecliptic, though, so like the sun in summer they will be back up high in the sky at some point in the future. When is that?
The inner planets, Mars and Mercury orbit quickly around the sun and will rapidly change location, so we likely won’t have to wait too long. Jupiter and Saturn may take several years to rise high enough to be visible from Teeples observatory.
The SETI institute has an online tool to generate ephemerides for planets (see reference). This tool was used to produce ephemerides summarized below.
Jupiter: An outer planet which takes 12 years to orbit the sun, it will take several years to move haltingly through the ecliptic. At a declination of approximately -20 degrees in 2020 it was practically impossible to view from Lac Teeples. Fortunately, it is gradually climbing north, but it will be 2022 before it is easily viewed (declination +2 in August of 2022, peaking at 47 degrees above the horizon). It was viewable in 2021 with some effort.
Saturn: Another outer planet that moves slowly along the ecliptic. Saturn is nearly twice as far from the sun as is Jupiter, and has a 30-year orbit. At a declination of approximately -17 degrees in 2021 it is practically impossible to view from Lac Teeples. Fortunately, it was at the maximum southern limits around 2018 and is gradually climbing north. Unfortunately, it will likely be several years before it is easily viewed (it doesn’t cross into positive declination until 2026).
Mars: An inner planet that moves around the sun more quickly, Mars changes orientation with Earth more quickly. Mars was quite easily observed in 2020 and will be again in 2022. Unfortunately, as an inner planet Mars will tend to be closer to the sun, slightly limiting opportunities for observing/imaging. Mercury is nearly always near the Sun.
Pluto: Not an actual planet, officially. Pluto is included as an extreme case. It is at a declination in the minus 20 range, not observable at Teeples, and will only marginally move north in the next decade. It will never be observable at Lac Teeples in my lifetime. It takes nearly 250 years to orbit the sun, and has not completed a revolution since it was discovered in 1930. At the time of discovery Pluto was at a declination of +22 degrees.
The image is of Uranus with moons Titania (nearest to the planet) and Oberon (most distant), observed November 30, 2019.
Reference: https://pds-rings.seti.org/tools/index.html
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