Even the ancient astronomers knew there was something different about the planets. Unlike the rest of the stars, the planets move across the sky, backwards and forwards, round and round. It wasn’t until Copernicus that we finally had a modern notion of what exactly is going on.
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“Planetary Motion in the Sky” on the Astronomy Cast website, with shownotes and transcript.
And the podcast is also available as a video, as Fraser and Pamela now record Astronomy Cast as part of a Google+ Hangout:
“the planets move across the sky, backwards and forwards”
AIIIEEEE! RETROGRADE MOTION! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THEN TURN AROUND AND RUN THE OTHER WAY FOR A LITTLE BIT! OKAY, NOW BACK THE WAY YOU WERE GOING!
(Shamelessly stolen from David DeLaney in rec.arts.sf.written)
Pamela… I’m shocked by your statement… “I don’t care what Mercury’s doing.” Say what? Perhaps I didn’t catch the entire context of your statement? Einstein rolls over and grunts…. TRUE the astrological implications are poot worthy… but Mercury, especially since Messenger’s arrival has to be front and center in current in (Pun intended) news? Please explain…. what did I miss?