Mercury passing between slower Earth and central Sun
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17-05-2022 11:32am#1
The appearance of the grouping of stars known as the Pleiades precedes the appearance of the fast moving Mercury-
The SOHO satellite tracks with the planet around the Sun and free of daily rotational influences affecting the observation so that the stars transition from left (evening appearance) to right (morning appearance) of the central Sun as a demonstration of our orbital motion. As Mercury moves faster than the Earth, it naturally will be seen to move faster than the change in position of the stars.
There is no special faculty necessary to appreciate this new type of astronomy made possible by an orbiting satellite, it only involves the use of the eyes and maybe graphics to help interpret what is happening presently by scrolling the dates forward-
Post edited by slade_x on2
