A composite of 37 images of Mars each taken about a week apart, from July 2005 (lower right) to February 2006 (upper left). On November 7, 2005, Mars was at its closest and brightest, its "opposition;" the central dot in the "Z" of dots in the above photograph. The apparent retrograde or backward motion is not due to Mars’ motion at all, but is rather a result of the observer’s (the Earth’s) motion relative to Mars as the Earth "laps" Mars in its faster orbit and then falls behind it again (see pages 24 and 114). The Pleiades star cluster is visible in the upper left.

The author, his poetry and instruments

Virgo and Venus in "You and the Universe"