Mars Orbit Aberations
- October 24
- When is Mars, which first appeared too close and so bright in August, going to move on. I still see Mars, or think I do, in the same position on
clear nights. It seems to me that it still as bright as it was in August. [and from another poster] It looks even brighter than it did in August [and
from another poster] I did look it up. http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Solar Moved to the inner system and changed the dates and latitude
and longitude to let me see the difference from my perspective. I do not have equipment. Visually, yes I agree Mars rises earlier which suggests
that there has been movement in its orbit relative to Earth. However, it rotates its nightly orbit in the same part of the sky as in August with what
appears to me to be the same level of brightness as in August. This is an inconsistency which I had hoped someone might explain.
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Note: Mars was reported to have gone into a retrograde orbit in late July, a month early. The term retrograde here means that is only appears to
be going backwards and Earth in its orbit has passed it, so it would be behind, rather than in front of, the Earth as they both move along in their
orbits. For this to have occurred one month early, or for the Mars orbit to be close to what it was in August, in timing, might mean that both
Earth and Mars are frozen in their orbits, not progressing, since late Summer. Per Skymap, Mars should be rising some 5 or more hours earlier,
and setting that much later, a considerable difference.
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