What Causes The Apparent Retrograde Motion Of The Planets

Apparent retrograde motion is an illusion created by turbulence in earth s atmosphere.

View this answer the planets do not actually move west across our sky. As earth passes another planet the other planet appears to move backward with respect to the background stars but the planet s motion does not really change. When used in this way retrograde motion is entirely an illusion caused by the moving. Retrograde motion happens when the earth overtakes an outer planet in its orbit.

When hearth catches up to anstarts to pass another planet the other planet seems to go retrograde. Apparent retrograde motion is an illusion created by turbulence in earth s atmosphere. What causes the apparent retrograde motion of the planets. Astronomers use the term to refer to the occasional backwards motion of the planets as seen in earth s sky.

The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is actually caused by their orbits around the sun. From any point on the daytime surface of mercury when the planet is near perihelion closest approach to the sun the sun undergoes apparent retrograde motion. This occurs because from approximately four earth days before perihelion until approximately four earth days after it mercury s angular orbital speed exceeds its angular rotational velocity. It happens around the date of opposition when the planet is opposite the sun in the sky.

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Retrograde action of planets is brought about by potential of the data that the two the earth and the different planet are orbiting the sunlight and that orbits are elliptical no longer around. See full answer below. The planets that are closer to the sun than us venus and mercury spend about half their time moving east across the sky day by day which is called direct motion and half their time moving west. What causes the apparent retrograde motion of the planets.

How long the planet goes retrograde depends on both earth s speed.