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Questions tagged [retrograde-orbit]

Questions regarding the movement of a celestial body that is in the opposite direction of another celestial body the original one is orbiting.

0 votes
0 answers
46 views

How to plot right ascension with time of the retrograde motion of mars? [closed]

Measure the right ascension, declination of mars and sun. plot the variation of right ascension with time.
user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
341 views

What is Mercury and Venus’ apparent retrograde motion?

I was having a discussion about Mercury being in retrograde, and I had explained it as Earth moving faster tangentially than Mercury so it looks like it’s moving backwards when we compare it with the ...
Dylan VanAllen's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
75 views

Half life of retrograde asteroids?

How common are asteroids that orbit retrograde with respect to the motion of all other bodies? How stable are said orbits in the Solar System, and where can we find most of them? I presume that there ...
WarpPrime's user avatar
  • 6,684
1 vote
1 answer
792 views

Retrograde and Crescent Phases Visibility on Mars

So I saw this question online If you lived on Mars, which planets would describe retrograde loops? Which would never be visible as crescent phases? And on a few QA website I searched, they gived ...
Jack the Ranger's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
116 views

Retrograde orbits of exoplanets

Some Hot Jupiters have retrograde orbits. What causes this? Are there any other common factors amongst the planets with these orbits and have any other types of exoplanet been found with retrograde ...
sno's user avatar
  • 1,464
4 votes
1 answer
146 views

Where can I find a list of retrograde Milky Way stars?

I read in papers that the Milky Way contains some retrograde stars (retrograde to the Milky Way rotation). Does anybody know where I can find a list of them, possibly including data on their distance ...
magnolia1's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
87 views

Prograde to retrograde orbital path

Is there a planet or planetary moon flyby path that could send a solar prograde orbiting asteroid into a retrograde solar orbit?
Connor Garcia's user avatar
  • 16.3k
6 votes
1 answer
325 views

Is there a retrograde star that passes closer to the galactic center than our Sun?

Our Sun is moving in a prograde orbit around the galactic center with a distance of about 8 kpc. This paper says there are many retrograde stars in the galactic halo 10-20 kpc from the galactic ...
Connor Garcia's user avatar
  • 16.3k
6 votes
2 answers
881 views

Has any moon achieved "retrograde equatorial orbit"?

There are many moons which have low (almost negligible) inclination and can be considered to rotate at the planet's equatorial plane. For instance, Galilean moons have almost negligible inclination (&...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 4,733
3 votes
1 answer
123 views

How would a retrograde satellite experiencing tidal deceleration affect the rotation of the primary?

There are two common scenarios like this one, where an orbiting body orbits its primary slower than the primary rotates, resulting in the orbiting body moving away and the primary experiencing a ...
StellarExile's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
662 views

If I know apparent planetary positions how do I calculate the date?

I have planetary position in retrograde how do I calculate the date? For eg, I know Mars was in retrograde in Scorpion (Sidereal 210 to 240 deg), how do I calculate the date and year of this? As of ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
199 views

Retrograde Motion: Stars in the background

I was reading about the retrograde motion of Mars. All explanations give reference to the stars in the background. But I do not understand why this is necessary. I say this since stars themselves also ...
Sal_99's user avatar
  • 123
6 votes
2 answers
221 views

what is the resolution of the magnitude that is distinguishable to the naked eye?

Or is it possible to spot the changing brightness (magnitude) of a planet with a naked eye The context of the question is this: If I'm not mistaken Ptolemy was able to say (using observation alone) ...
d_e's user avatar
  • 1,677
5 votes
1 answer
195 views

Do astronomers have any idea what percentage of our galaxy’s stars move in retrograde orbits?

I recently noticed that none of the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun in a retrograde direction. This is likely because they formed moving in the same direction as the planetary disk did in ...
Max0815's user avatar
  • 1,872
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Retrograde motion of planets: reason and time?

As beginner, I would like to understand how planets exhibit retrograde motion. When does the retrograde motion start for a planet like Mars and how long (time limit) planets will appear to be in such ...
Sathish Kumar's user avatar