On Sunday, November 21, 2021 at 2:49:10 AM UTC-7,
[email protected] wrote:
" Of all the orbits in the heaven, however, the most remarkable is that of Mercury,
which traverses almost untraceable paths so that it cannot be easily studied. There is the further difficulty that it generally follows a course invisible in the
sun's rays and is observable on very few days. Yet Mercury too will be understood,
provided that it is investigated by someone of superior ability. " Copernicus,
Commentariolus
Those words are indeed prophetic, but perhaps not in the way that you would like.
Mercury, like Venus, lies closer to the Sun than Earth, and thus its retrograde motions
have the same basic cause; that is well enough understood; the fact that our Solar
System conforms to the heliocentric theory and not the geocentric one, indeed, is even
regarded as *trivial* in this day and age, which is why it is difficult to understand how
you can think you have "new perspectives" on retrogrades to contribute of any importance.
But as everyone else here well knows, Newton realized Kepler's dream of finding the
physical cause behind the motions of the planets. And due to him, minute deviations of
the planets from Kepler's Laws could be explained and predicted. Thus it was that minute
deviations in the motions of Uranus led to the discovery of Neptune.
Minute deviations in the motions of Mercury were also found. Some were due to the gravity
of the other known planets. But others remained unexplained. For a time, it was thought
that perhaps an undiscovered planet, given the name Vulcan, was their cause.
Of course, though, we know how _that_ story ended. Instead, the cause turned out to be
an emendation to the theory of gravity as put forth by Newton, made by someone who
has turned out to be the very exemplar of "superior ability".
I speak, of course, of Albert Einstein, and his General Theory of Relativity.
No doubt, though, you will dismiss the notion that gravity can lead to the curvature of
space (and time!) as science-fantasy. But that's _your_ problem.
John Savard
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