On Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 5:34:19 AM UTC+1, palsing wrote:
On Monday, October 22, 2018 at 9:15:31 PM UTC-7, Gerald Kelleher wrote:

snip crap

Explain this...

http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/mercu...b-may-2012.png

They don't want you posting these illusory loops of Mercury because it exposes everyone else as know-nothings while those outside this newsgroup have developed an appetite to explain the motions of Venus/Mercury even if they come up short (the short passage about 5:30 minutes in).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQQN...ature=youtu.be

The observed motions of the faster planets include phases and size increases/decreases and they can be gauged against a 'fixed stars' background like the slower moving planets by virtue that the bulk of the Earth's orbital motion is accounted for by the transition of the stars from left to right of the stationary and central Sun when viewing the faster planets.

If this is the way progress is made in this era then so be it but make no mistake about it, as a spacecraft makes its way towards the centre of the solar system where Mercury and the parent central Sun exists, real enjoyment comes from knowing how we see the planets move and the structure of the solar system.