That moment I realized Mars was actually moving in my photos...

I was comparing a photo I took back in July from my backyard in Tucson to one I snapped last week, and I thought my tripod had shifted because the red dot was way off. Turns out Mars just does that... it traveled almost 40 degrees across the sky in those 4 months because Earth caught up to it or something. Has anyone else been fooled by planetary motion like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_williams1mo ago

Hold on, I gotta push back a little here. If Mars is moving that much in just a few months, it sounds like you're either using a really bad telescope or you just got lucky with a random alignment. Planetary motion is predictable, it's not like these things are sneaking around behind our backs. Most casual stargazers probably wouldn't even notice a 40 degree shift unless they're staring at the sky every single night with a laser focus. Maybe the real issue is just that you're overthinking a basic function of our solar system, it's not some big gotcha moment for everyone.

claire_fisher411mo ago

Mars was way off" is exactly what got me too! I spent like 20 minutes messing with my telescope alignment thinking I knocked it over. It feels weird that planets just creep across the sky like that when you aren't watching. I had no idea Earth's orbit made everything look so jumpy from our view. The first time I noticed it with Jupiter I honestly thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Now I check the position charts before I even set up to avoid the panic.