Animation of Mercury going retrograde and direct again

Please watch in Full screen HD-mode! This animation shows from GEOCENTRIC point of view (Earth' observer) how the innermost planet Mercury moves on its small orbit direct, than suddenly appears to move retrograde (backwards) and turns direct again. The red grid marks the ecliptical plane, in which the Sun and most planets move more or less. The figures indicate the 30° intersection of the ecliptical grid, so 0° longitude is the beginning at the vernal equinox = 0° Aries, Every further 30° step is the next astrological (tropical) sign of the zodiac, so e.g. 30°-60° = Taurus, 60°-90° = Gemini and so on. The movement for Mercury is shown for 2009 and 2010 covering two of its retrograde periods, which take about three weeks and occur four times every Earth year. Mercury's orbit is shown in orange colour (ellipse). The panel on the left corner is in German and displays the calendar date of the animation. The timestep is 1 day per trail and computation. This is how the apparent retrograde motion of planets actually appears and happens. Stars and other planets are excluded in this animation. The animation was generated with Redshift 7 Premium by USM Media. More explanations will be inserted into the animation soon.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• astronomy
• astrology
• ecliptic
• Mercury
• retrograde
• direct
• zodiac
• orbit