Mars has started its backwards movement. And if you haven’t already – you are welcome to take a look at some of the latest posts about Mars’ retrogression and the way to cope with it:
Today we are going to learn how to actually see the retrogression in the skies with our own two eyes!
At around 22:00 the constellation of Scorpio is rising in the East, where usually you see the Sun rising in the morning. The constellation of Scorpio is very big and easy to detect. A picture is attached for you to recognize it. If you are living in the north (UK and further north) you will not see the lower part of it.
The constellation of Scorpio has one very dominant and reddish star in it. This is Anaters – Scorpio’s leading star.
These days two other reddish celestial bodies are ornamenting the Scorpio constellation – but these are not stars at all! These are two planets of our solar system – Mars and Saturn.
Mars is much bigger than Saturn and for now it will be seen as the biggest celestial body in that area (Jupiter is also in the skies, but higher in them, in the constellation of Leo).
TODAY (SUNDAY) THE MOON WILL BE THERE AS WELL! SO IT’S EXTRA-EASY TO SPOT.
During the night, as our planet revolves around its own axis it would seem as though Scorpio, with the two planets in it, travels the skies from East to West. Towards the middle of the night – at about 2am, the Scorpio constellation will be up in the skies where we usually see the Sun at mid-day, and towards the morning the constellation will set in the West.
If you have managed to spot Scorpio with Mars and Saturn in it, you can now proceed to the next phase – which is actually following Mars’ retrogression.
If you look at the Scorpio constellation EVERY NIGHT you will see something very very interesting.
First – the constellation will rise a bit earlier each night.
Second – each night Mars will seem to appear slightly more to the West, moving away from Saturn and Anaters each night. This movement of Mars travelling across the Scorpio constellation and to its West, that can only be seen if you follow Mars every night, (or from time to time) is the retrogression.
All planets (and the Sun and Moon) seem to us as though they move across the Zodiac and change places in the skies, each at their own pace. The Moon travels a whole sign every 2.5 days, Mercury, Venus and the Sun change a sign about every month, Jupiter takes a whole year to switch a sign and so on. But they all travel from West to East by night (don’t confuse it with Earth’s own rotation that makes them appear as though traveling from East to West during the night). When a planet moves West from night to night, instead of to the East – this is called a retrogression – as it travels against the usual direction.
By the way – The reason for the retrogression has to do with our own perspective from Earth, viewing other planets’ orbits around the Sun.
Enjoy the skies!