Mercury Retrograde 2010
Written by Fraser Cain
Retrograde motion
When Mercury is in retrograde, it appears to be moving backwards in the sky from its regular direction of motion. Of course, Mercury isn't really going in the wrong direction, it's all because of our perspective to Mercury.
Mercury is orbiting the Sun faster than the Earth. At various points in its orbit, Mercury catches up with Earth, and then passes us. From here on Earth, we see Mercury appear to slow down, go backwards, and then go forwards again.
Here are the Mercury Retrograde 2010 dates.
Mercury starts 2010 having already gone retrograde on December 26, 2009. It then turns direct on January 15, 2010.
Mercury turns retrograde again on April 18, 2010, and then turns direct again on May 11, 2010.
Mercury turns retrograde on August 20, 2010 and then turns direct on September 12, 2010.
Mercury turns retrograde on December 10, 2010 and then turns direct on December 30, 2010.
We have written many articles about Mercury for Universe Today. Here's more information about how Mercury can go into retrograde.
Want more information on Mercury? Here's a link to NASA's World Book on Mercury, and here's NASA's Solar System Exploration Guide to Mercury.
We have also recorded a whole episode of Astronomy Cast that's just about planet Mercury. Listen to it here, Episode 49: Mercury.
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: Mercury, retrograde
