{"id":569392,"date":"2026-05-06T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/569392\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:46:12","slug":"2026-may-6-the-retrograde-dance-of-saturn-and-neptune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/569392\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 May 6 \u2013 The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune"},"content":{"rendered":"

APOD: 2026 May 6 \u2013 The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune<\/p>\n

Discover the cosmos!<\/a>
\nEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.\n<\/p>\n

2026 May 6
\n

\n\"The<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune
Image Credit & Copyright:
\nTun\u00e7 Tezel<\/a> (TWAN<\/a>)
\n
Text:
\nKeighley Rockcliffe<\/a>
\n(NASA<\/a>
\nGSFC<\/a>,
\nUMBC CSST<\/a>,
\nCRESST II<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Explanation: <\/p>\n

What does it mean for
\nSaturn<\/a> and
\nNeptune<\/a> to be in retrograde?
\nFeatured is a composite of images taken over 34 nights from May 2025 to February
\n2026 tracing Saturn (brighter, foreground) and Neptune (dimmer, background). Over
\nthat time, the two planets exhibited
\nretrograde motion<\/a>,
\nmeaning they appeared to move backward in the sky. This
\napparent backwards motion<\/a>
\noccurs when Earth overtakes the slower outer planets as they orbit the Sun. Imagine the Solar System
\nis a running track. Earth “runs” faster along the inside of the track compared to the outer planets.
\nAs Earth approaches, aligns, and then “laps” the outer planets, they change position from ahead to behind from
\nthe Earth’s perspective. This perspective shift is what causes the outer planets to change position in the
\nnight sky.
\nAn animation<\/a>
\ncorresponding to today\u2019s image shows Saturn and Neptune\u2019s months-long dance across
\nthe northern night sky. Saturn stepped from
\nthe Pisces constellation<\/a>
\ninto Aquarius<\/a>
\nand back again while Neptune remained in Pisces. This is the closest Saturn and Neptune have been
\nin the sky since their last conjunction<\/a> in 1989.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow’s picture: spiralling into a supernova<\/a><\/p>\n

<<\/a>
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\n Authors & editors:
\nRobert Nemiroff<\/a>
\n(MTU<\/a>) &
\nJerry Bonnell<\/a> (UMCP<\/a>)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn
\nSpecific rights apply<\/a>.
NASA Web Privacy<\/a>,
\nAccessibility<\/a>,
\nNotices<\/a>;
A service of:
\nASD<\/a> at
\nNASA<\/a> \/
\nGSFC<\/a>,
\n
NASA Science Activation<\/a>
\n
& Michigan Tech. U.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOD: 2026 May 6 \u2013 The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune Discover the cosmos! Each day a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1091,194941,1582,90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-569392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-neptune","tag-retrograde","tag-saturn","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}