On Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 8:56:43 PM UTC-7, Gerald Kelleher wrote:
On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 4:37:50 AM UTC+1, palsing wrote:
On Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 1:23:53 PM UTC-7, Gerald Kelleher wrote:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160717.html

The racetrack analogy applies to Mercury as it does to Venus although Venus gives observers a clearer view as it runs its circuit along with its phases -

http://www.popastro.com/images/plane...ary%202012.jpg

An evening appearance of Mercury represents its orbital course when it emerges out from behind the Sun to its widest point seen from a slower moving Earth before turning back in while a morning appearance is when it passes in front of the Sun and moves to its widest point in the opposite direction.

The people at NASA/APOD need to grow into adults as Mercury doesn't "trail or lead the Sun", the Sun is stationary and the planet moves .

Gerald, you need to keep in mind that this photo shows the position of Mercury over several successive evenings with respect to the Sun. As explained in the text, each photo was taken when the Sun was 10 degrees below the horizon. This photo shows how Mercury swings around the Sun. Isn't it pretty?

This photo does emphatically NOT show the motion of Mercury with respect to the fixed stars, and that motion would be vastly different. Of course, we can't actually see the stars while the Sun is only 10 degrees below the horizon, but we certainly know exactly where they are.

With respect to the stars the retrograde of Mercury would look something like this...

https://michellegregg.files.wordpres...ment.jpg?w=593

Very different, eh?

After all, it is all a matter of perspective, which is always the case.

People are not barbaric and can appreciate the closed loops of Mercury and Venus with the Sun always at the center with Mercury passing in front of the Sun recently as it overtook the Earth at what we see are the center of retrogrades -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhO6Ufw9h_s

The open-ended loops of the outer planets never have the Sun at the center as the faster Earth overtakes them -

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/files...el_bigANNO.jpg


I only know too well you don't have a feel for inner planetary motion as a planet moves front the left to the right of the Sun or from a twilight appearance to a dawn appearance while appreciating a central Sun and a slower moving Earth. Maybe 1 in 10 or 1 in 100 will experience the thrill of an insight which divides the perspectives between inner and outer planets seen from a moving Earth but this is due to the dominance of celestial sphere guys and their identification exercise bounded by their local horizon.

Too bad you remain blind to reality, Gerald. It is not all that difficult to understand that the motion of the inferior planets relative to the Sun is different than their motion against the stars, but you are incapable of that understanding.

There is a lot that you don't understand. A LOT. We all know this because you spread your ignorance here multiple times daily. You have no capacity to learn. Sad.