Suppose the situation was normal and genuine solar system researchers were present. In that case, the issue is that although all planets ( wanderers) display direct/retrograde motion against the background stars, the resolutions depend on whether those
planets are moving faster or slower than the Earth.
The baseline for the framework where the stars change their position from left to right as a consequence of the Earth's orbital motion and therefore parallel to the orbital plane permits the partitioning of direct/retrogrades within the new framework.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a3CN-jGiZ6Q
Mercury and Jupiter are in direct motion as they are seen to move in the same direction behind the Sun although they appear to be heading in opposite directions. The reason being that Mercury moves faster than the Earth so overcomes the influence of the
slower-moving Earth as it moves in its true motion from right to left while Jupiter is also moving from right to left. It is seen to move from left to right because Jupiter's motion is slower than Earth's.
Direct/retrograde motion has specific meaning depending on whether a planet moves faster or slower than the Earth. Venus is in retrograde motion when it passes between the slower-moving Earth and the stationary Sun as its observed motion is faster than
the change in the position of the stars from left to right-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHc7sdq48wc
In the Ptolemaic framework, this retrograde motion would give the appearance similar to the slower moving planets but from a different cause, in this case, it's faster motion than that of the Earth. This is why, at the level of Copernicus they did not
make a distinction whereas presently, that distinction is absolutely necessary-
" Now what is said here of Jupiter is to be understood of Saturn and Mars also. In Saturn, these retrogressions are somewhat more frequent than in Jupiter, because its motion is slower than Jupiter's so that the Earth overtakes it in a shorter time. In
Mars they are rarer, its motion being faster than that of Jupiter, so that the Earth spends more time in catching up with it. Next, as to Venus and Mercury, whose circles are included within that of the Earth, stoppings and retrograde motions appear in
them also, due not to any motion that really exists in them, but to the annual motion of the Earth. This is acutely demonstrated by Copernicus . . .
You see, gentlemen, with what ease and simplicity the annual motion -- if made by the Earth -- lends itself to supplying reasons for the apparent anomalies which are observed in the movements of the five planets. . . . It removes them all and reduces
these movements to equable and regular motions, and it was Nicholas Copernicus who first clarified for us the reasons for this marvellous effect." 1632, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
I can't account for dull people who can't handle the narrative and can be left to their own devices, however, the perceptive ability to discern the difference in direct/retrogrades between the faster and slower moving planets seen from a moving Earth is
within reach of most high school or college students.
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