Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Apparent retrograde motion of Mars in 2003
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Apparent_retrograde_motion_of_Mars_in_2003.gif/250px-Apparent_retrograde_motion_of_Mars_in_2003.gif)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Retrograde_Motion.bjb.svg/250px-Retrograde_Motion.bjb.svg.png)
- Reason
- Great illustration of a concept that is difficult to convey in text. Very high EV for Retrograde and direct motion and good EV for Viewing section of Mars article which discusses retrograde motion. Size (400x400) is above average for a featured animation.
- Articles this image appears in
- Retrograde and direct motion, Mars
- Creator
- Seav
- Support as nominator --Kaldari (talk) 18:56, 18 November 2008 (UTC)
- Support - I'm AGF that this has EV since I know very little about retrograde motion... ;) Intothewoods29 (talk) 04:06, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
- Oppose This image only shows what the apparent motion of mars is from earth. I think to make it clear from an apparent retrograde motion perspective the two planets should be shown simultaneously from a viewpoint roughly orthogonal to the two planes of motion (ie a "birds eye" view). The attached image shows what I'd be after, adding animation and ditching the side on view. Such an image might also find relevance in orbit. Noodle snacks (talk) 01:33, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
- I don't really understand your objection. The whole point of the illustration is to show what retrograde motion looks like from earth, as this is typically where people observe planets from. This illustration is not to explain how apparent retrograde motion is created, but to show what it actually looks like. I think the animation you describe would be complementary to this one, not a replacement. Kaldari (talk) 16:12, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
- It shows what retrograde motion looks like from earth yes, but it would probably leave someone confused about why the motion looks like that. It could so easily show why the motion appears in such a fashion, and it doesn't. Noodle snacks (talk) 23:33, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
- I don't really understand your objection. The whole point of the illustration is to show what retrograde motion looks like from earth, as this is typically where people observe planets from. This illustration is not to explain how apparent retrograde motion is created, but to show what it actually looks like. I think the animation you describe would be complementary to this one, not a replacement. Kaldari (talk) 16:12, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
- Support per nom. I agree with Kaldari's response to Noodle Snacks. Spikebrennan (talk) 14:51, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
- Support. Also, If it was possible to combine the two images (nom and alt), I'd also support. Together they demonstrated and explained retrograde motion for me. But I'm okay with the demonstration of it. SpencerT♦C 03:12, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
- Question: When viewed as a thumb, why does the Mars symbol leave litle specks on the image, or is it my computer? SpencerT♦C 03:14, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
- Weird. It looks like it's only doing that in Internet Explorer. I wonder if this has something to do with the recent change in how the mediaWiki software handles GIF thumbnails. Kaldari (talk) 20:39, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
Promoted Image:Apparent retrograde motion of Mars in 2003.gif MER-C 06:57, 27 November 2008 (UTC)