Question

What happens during the apparent retrograde motion of a planet?

Answer 1

Answer:

The planet will move from east to west for a couple of months in the night sky.

Explanation:

Retrograde motion is an optical effect due to the fact that Earth rotates more quickly than the planet that apparently has a retrograde motion in the sky.

For example, Saturn has a slower speed in its orbit around the Sun. That means that the Earth will pass it, and that will give the effect that the planet is moving backward. That same scenario can be seen between two cars on a highway, the faster car will see the slower car when it passes as it is moving for a short fragment of time in backward.

Remember that the planets in the night sky move from west to east, in the case of a planet with retrograde motion, it will move from east to west for a couple of months.