7/22/2023 0 Comments Retrograde motion of marsCopernicus applied the same effect to the planets out in space. As they pass, the slower car will appear to be moving backward in relation to the faster one. In fact, it's the same effect obtained when you pass another car on the highway: Both cars are going in the same direction, but one is moving more slowly. By demoting Earth from its hallowed position at the center of the solar system and replacing it with the sun, Copernicus was able to triumphantly explain the riddle of the apparent "backward motion effect" of the planets. It was not until 1543, when the great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) had his lifelong work "De revolutionibus" published, that the secret of the odd retrograde loops were finally revealed. Unfortunately, the actual observations of the planets never seemed to fit this strange orbital mechanism, ultimately making the Greeks' explanation utterly useless. The Greeks finally explained away these anomalies by assuming that the planets moved around Earth in smaller "epicycles" - that is, small circles whose centers move along their main orbital circles around Earth, resulting in complex, almost coil-like curves. In fact, it did just this during the spring of 2016 and will do so again in the late fall of 2022. They had a great difficulty in representing and calculating this mysterious loop, and for a long time, they had no adequate explanation for it.Īnother problem was trying to explain why Mars sometimes described a loop and other times a zigzag/back-and-forth motion, which resembled the letter "Z" in its path across the sky. Yet the ancient Greeks staunchly believed that the sun, moon and planets all moved around the Earth in perfect circles. In other words, for those of us watching from Earth, during that two-month interval, Mars will appear to travel in a broad loop, measuring about 10 degrees long and 2 1/2 degrees wide. For one thing, while behaving in this strange manner, Mars will also appear to deviate significantly from its normal course the retrograde motion will appear to bring it far below its regular orbital track. ![]() But for the longest time, the ancient astronomers were unable to come up with a satisfactory explanation for it. The Greeks were stumped Copernicus wasn'tĪll of the planets in our solar system exhibit this "retrograde motion" at one time or another. 28, the planet will pause briefly again before resuming its normal eastward movement. Then, for the next two months, it will reverse its course in the heavens and appear to move backward against the star background - toward the west. Finally, on June 28, it will pause briefly. ![]() But on June 28, that steady eastward course will come to a stop.Īctually, since the beginning of June, Mars has appeared to slow in its eastward trajectory, almost seeming to waver, as if it had become uncertain.
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