If a planet makes an illusory loop and no one sees it, is it an illusion at all? If so, Mercury retrograde happens three or four times each year. I couldn’t find any images of Mercury retrograde, and I suspect they’re nearly impossible to make since the planet is so often obscured by sunlight. The image in the thumbnail of the video above, captured by astrophotographer Tunç Tezel, is actually Mars retrograde, not Mercury. This is clearest with Mars, which we lap every two years. Apparent retrograde motion of planets is an illusion generated by the combined movements of Earth and the observed planet (in this case, Mercury, but it could be any planet).įor reasons that are much easier to explain in the video above than in text descriptions, planets appear to temporarily reverse the direction of their orbit, from the point of view of Earth, whenever they pass by Earth or when Earth passes by them. There’s an interesting story for you here too. But don’t be spooked if you’re a science-minded person.
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