Mercury in Retrograde explained
- 5 years ago
SPACE — When Mercury is in retrograde, it appears as if the planet is moving backwards when viewed from Earth's sky.
This is because Mercury completes an orbit faster than Earth does, according to reports from NASA.
According to Vox, as Mercury passes Earth, Earth's line of sight will shift so that Mercury will appear to retrograde for around three weeks when viewed from our planet.
This is because both Mercury and Earth are orbiting the solar system at different speeds at the same time, creating an illusion that the planet is moving backwards.
Mercury is currently retrograding from March 5 to March 28 and will retrograde two more times later this year, according to Newsweek.
Dr. Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium, told Mental Floss that there is zero evidence that a planet retrograding is something we should worry about.
This is because Mercury completes an orbit faster than Earth does, according to reports from NASA.
According to Vox, as Mercury passes Earth, Earth's line of sight will shift so that Mercury will appear to retrograde for around three weeks when viewed from our planet.
This is because both Mercury and Earth are orbiting the solar system at different speeds at the same time, creating an illusion that the planet is moving backwards.
Mercury is currently retrograding from March 5 to March 28 and will retrograde two more times later this year, according to Newsweek.
Dr. Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium, told Mental Floss that there is zero evidence that a planet retrograding is something we should worry about.