how come?

Mr Bob · #1 23-02-2006, 04:43 AM

Howdy

Just been taking a look at the Starry Night app to see whats in the sky mid June.

Mars is in the Beehive cluster on the 16th and 2 days later is only 33' from Saturn and 1° 23' from the beehive (sucky altitude though 23° at 6.25pm). Mercury is also in the sky.

Question is, how come Mars has 'stopped' moving (or why has Saturn caught it up)?

Am waiting till April for a GS680 but I know aperature fever will hit a few months later so thought another 2 months wont hurt (mentally it will

) waiting for a 880 or 'maybe' a 980 (both from Andrews a lot cheaper than what is available in NZ). The missus will be happy having a few extra dollars now also.

Thanx- MrB

iceman (Mike) · #2 23-02-2006, 06:06 AM

Hi Bob.

It's due to retrograde motion, as we move further in our orbit around the Sun, the angle in which we see Mars changes.. so at the moment it's moving "backwards" from it's normal motion because we're well past opposition.

Mr Bob · #3 23-02-2006, 09:13 AM

Thanx iceman

Figured it out a couple of hours after I posted. It was bugging me all lastnight.

Thiink · #4 23-02-2006, 09:46 AM

This was one of the quiz questions from the last competition.

Quote:

25. The apparent backwards motion of planets is called?

Answer: retrograde motion. (explain)

You cheated Mike!

Striker (Tony) · #5 23-02-2006, 03:05 PM

Quote:

This was one of the quiz questions from the last competition.

Quote:
25. The apparent backwards motion of planets is called?

Answer: retrograde motion. (explain)

You cheated Mike!

I want a full enquiry into this Mike...hehehe