![]() A python script was developed which repeatedly sent remote requests to the API and documented the results in a CSV format. The retrograde mercury period dataset was compiled manually using an open source restful API exclusively for the needs of this project. This dataset was created in order to encourage Astrology related research. This is public dataset compiled by Paraskevas Solomou listing all periods during which the planet Mercury followed a retrograde course (according to Astrology) between January 1st 1990 and December 31st 2020 Dataset Aim Laura Nicole Driessen is part of MeerTRAP, which is supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 694745).Retrograde Mercury Dates Dataset 1990-2020 Astro, on the other hand, is happy as long as he gets to run around the oval and bark at possums. I like to think the biggest impact the planets have on Earth is bringing wonder and joy every time we turn our eyes (and our telescopes) to the night sky. If we include the dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres (and exclude the other seven dwarf planets in the Solar System), at least one planet or dwarf planet is in retrograde for 354 days of 2023, leaving only 11 days without any retrograde motion. If we consider the seven planets other than Earth, at least one planet is in retrograde for 244 days of 2023 – that’s around two-thirds of the year. However, the pseudoscientific practice of astrology continues to ascribe a deeper meaning to this illusion. So, humans found out retrograde motion was an optical illusion 500 years ago. Astronomers like Apollonius around 300 BCE saw the planets going backwards, and explained this by adding more circles called epicycles. Retrograde motion bamboozled ancient astronomers since humans started looking up in space, and we only officially figured it out when Copernicus proposed in 1543 that the planets are orbiting the Sun (though he wasn’t the first astronomer to propose this heliocentric model).īefore Copernicus, many astronomers thought Earth was the centre of the universe and the planets were spinning around us. So we see them in retrograde approximately once a year as we whip around the Sun so much faster than they do. The other planets are so far from the Sun and travelling so slowly compared to Earth that it’s almost like they’re standing still. Mars is in retrograde once every two years. This is what happens when we look up at the sky and see one of the outer planets in retrograde. But as he starts to pass me, it seems like I’m going backwards or left (retrograde) while he continues to run forwards to the right. At this moment it seems like we’re both going the same direction, to the right. He’s running around the oval and he starts catching me up from behind. Astro is definitely not a deep thinker, but let’s imagine for a moment that he is and think about what he sees as he runs around the oval. ![]() To work this out, we need to swap our perspective. The planets outside our orbit (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) also go into retrograde. This means Venus is in retrograde twice every three years. ![]() Venus also orbits inside our orbit of the Sun, zipping around once every 224.7 days. This happens because Astro is going much faster than me, and is inside my “orbit” of the oval.īecause Mercury’s orbit is inside Earth’s orbit, seeing it from our planet is like me watching Astro run.īut Mercury isn’t the only planet to do this. But when he gets to the same side of the oval as me, it suddenly looks like he’s running right instead of left (retrograde). If we’re both going anti-clockwise around the cricket pitch, when Astro is on the opposite side of the oval to me it looks like he’s going left while I’m jogging right. If I take Astro for a run on my local cricket oval, he does super-speed laps on the inside while I run much more slowly around the outside. Astro is a whippet, or a mini-greyhound, and he has a need for speed. Let’s use my dog Astro to help explain what’s happening when we see a planet in retrograde. What we are talking about is apparent retrograde motion, when to us on Earth it looks like a planet is moving across the sky in the opposite direction to its usual movement.īecause Mercury is closest to the Sun and has the fastest orbit, it appears to move backwards in the sky more often than any other planet. However, the planets never actually change direction. Retrograde motion means a planet is moving in the opposite direction to normal around the Sun. But what does it mean when we say Mercury is “in retrograde”? A matter of orbits So it seems a bit rough that we blame Mercury for all our problems three to four times a year when it’s in retrograde. Postdoctoral researcher in radio astronomy, University of Sydney
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