LAB 05 - RETROGRADE MOTION

Retrograde Motion

In this activity, you will follow a planet as it moves across the celestial sphere. This will be similar to what you did in the moon lab. Most of the time, a planet's position in the sky will slowly shift towards the East each night.  However, there comes a point where the planet's positional shift apparently slows down, changes direction, and moves towards the West for a while.  This is called Retrograde Motion and it is a sort of optical illusion that happens due to observing the motion of the planet from a moving planet (Earth).

The following video demonstrates how to use the simulation to complete this lab.