You might have heard that Mercury is in retrograde and people should be careful during this period. If you have no interest in astrology and don’t believe in superstitions, this might not be of any importance to you.
A follower of astrology, however, would tell you to expect bad things happening, like crashed computers, delayed flights and tensions at workplace. On the contrary, if you consult an astronomer, he/she will tell you that there is no need to worry about this and it’s just a common celestial phenomenon.
This year, Mercury retrograde will occur thrice – from February 17 to March 10, June 18 to July 12 and October 14 to November 3, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
Steeped in myths and superstitions, one wonders what exactly Mercury retrograde is.
Mercury retrograde is just an optical illusion for people viewing the celestial body from Earth. To understand it in layman language, consider two cars running on a highway. If one car overtakes the other, then the person sitting in the first one will see the other car moving in a backward direction. This is nothing but the relative motion of one car with respect to the other one.
So, when it comes to planetary motion, Mercury completes one revolution around the sun in 88 days while Earth takes 365 days for the same. Basically, one year on Earth is like four years on Mercury.
{{/usCountry}}So, when it comes to planetary motion, Mercury completes one revolution around the sun in 88 days while Earth takes 365 days for the same. Basically, one year on Earth is like four years on Mercury.
{{/usCountry}}When Mercury comes next to Earth during its motion, it appears moving east to people living on Earth. Normally planets move from west-to-east in the night sky, which is referred to as progade motion. However, periodically the direction of the motion changes with respect to the heliocentric solar system. The retrograde motion happens when a faster moving planet catches up and passes a slower moving planet (like the faster moving Mercury to the slower moving Earth).
According to NASA, Retrograde motion is an “apparent change in the movement of the planet through the sky.”
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