Four planets will be visible each evening through mid February begining about 45 minutes after sunset.
You'll probably notice bright jupiter first about 2/3rds of the way up the sky. look to the right and down a bit and Venus should be shining brightly about 1/3rd up of the way up from the horizon. Look closely and Saturn should also be visible down and to the right a bit.
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Next extend an imaginarely line through Venus and Jupiter and you'll come to Mars high in the eastern sky..
This is the ecliptic line, the path the Sun takes through the sky each day. Each planet in the solar system moves through the sky within a couple of degreees of this ecliptic line.
This line up isn't rare and doesn't represent a "planetary alignment". What you are seeing is the plane of the solar system on display.
If tonight's temperatures in the teens, or tomorrow's possible winter weather keep you away from the show in the sky, you'll have plenty of other opportunities through mid February. January will be best while Saturn is higher in the sky.
The show moves to the pre-dawn sky over the summer. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be visible from mid August through mid September. Venus takes the third position from Saturn begining in early November though the end of the year.
We wont see four planets in the evening sky again until 2034 when. Saturn, Venus, and Mars,are breifly joined by Mars low on the horizon. This last happened breifly in January 2023 when Mars and Jupiter were visible high in the evening sky. As Saturn rose above the treeline, Saturn was visible for just three days before it set.