is some think bad going to happen?
2007-12-20 09:17:41 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Just for a change of pace, I suppose. After 5 billion years going in one direction, you would be sick of it, too.
Seriously, no. It will be going in the same direction. In any event, it is not a sign of bad things happening. Whatever happens will happen anyway.
2007-12-20 09:44:25 · answer #1 · answered by Labsci 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is just the apparent motion of Mars as seen from the Earth. It occurs simply because Mars has a wider orbit round the Sun than that of the Earth.
Please try not to believe in Astrology. It is all absolute nonsense. The only astronomical bodies that have any influence on the Earth are the Sun, and the Moon, which make life here possible, and the planet Jupiter which sweeps up most of the cosmic rubble entering the Solar System, thereby saving us from a great deal of potential harm.
2007-12-20 09:36:49 · answer #2 · answered by doshiealan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look at it this way. On a freeway, you are driving in one lane. There is a car up ahead. There is a line of hills on the horizon.
The car up ahead appears to be moving slowly past the distant hills. As you catch up to the other car, its motion past the hills seems to slow. When you are almost up to the other car, because of your speed, the other car seems to be going backwards compared to the hills. This continues to be the case until you are some distance past the other car. Then it seems to move forward against the background hills again.
The other car is always travelling in the same direction, isn't it? It's only compared to the unmoving background, AND from the point of view of a faster car, that it appears to move backwards.
This is called retrograde motion. It happens each time Earth catches up to Mars and passes it. Mars doesn't change direction. That's impossible. It just seems that, for a few weeks, it's moving the other direction in the sky compared to the unmoving stars behind.
2007-12-20 09:35:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, Mars will continue to move forward in its orbit.
From the Earth, it will appear to reverse direction for a while, but that is because the Earth orbits faster, thus we are passing it like a faster runner on an inside track passes another runner on an outer track.
2007-12-20 09:24:15 · answer #4 · answered by cyswxman 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
this motion is called retrograde motion, and occurs as a result of the different speeds of the Earth and Mars around the sun. You can see a really great website that shows what retrograde motion looks like and describes how it occurs at:
http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy/retrograd.html
2007-12-20 09:25:08 · answer #5 · answered by kuiperbelt2003 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋