what does it mean for a planet to be in retrograde?

Question

I’ve read that it means it appears to be going backwards but does it?

In: 11

Answer 1

Retrograde refers to when the movement of planets in the sky appears to reverse.

This is the result of our planets orbit. When Earth gets to the closest point to another planet like mars, Mars will appear to move backwards in the sky for a bit.

There are numerous GIFs and animations online that detail this effect