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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2023 April 15   
      
                                When Z is for Mars   
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)   
      
      Explanation: A composite of images captured about a week apart from mid   
      August 2022 through late March 2023, this series traces the retrograde   
      motion of ruddy-colored Mars. Progressing from lower right to upper   
      left Mars makes a Z-shaped path as it wanders past the Pleiades and   
      Hyades star clusters, through the constellation Taurus in planet   
      Earth's night sky. Seen about every two years, Mars doesn't actually   
      reverse the direction of its orbit to trace out the Z-shape though.   
      Instead, the apparent backwards or retrograde motion with respect to   
      the background stars is a reflection of the orbital motion of Earth   
      itself. Retrograde motion can be seen each time Earth overtakes and   
      laps planets orbiting farther from the Sun, the Earth moving more   
      rapidly through its own relatively close-in orbit. High in northern   
      hemisphere skies the Red Planet was opposite the Sun and at its closest   
      and brightest on December 8, near the center of the frame. Seen close   
      to Mars, a popular visitor to the inner Solar System, comet ZTF (C/2022   
      E3), was also captured on two dates, February 10 and February 16.   
      
                          Tomorrow's picture: winging it   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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