Apparent retrograde motion notable on Mars which has two natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos. Both moons orbit Mars in an eastward (prograde) direction, however Deimos has an orbital period of 1.23 Martian sidereal days, making it supersynchronous, whereas Phobos has an orbital period of 0.31 Martian sidereal days making it subsynchronous. Consequently, although both moons are travelling in an eastward (prograde) direction, they appear to be travelling in opposite directions when viewed from the surface of Mars due to their orbital periods in relation to the rotational period of the planet. All other planetary bodies in the Solar System also appear to periodically
The Secret of the Ninth Planet The Secret of the Ninth Planet The Secret of the Ninth Planet is a science-fiction novel written by Donald A. Wollheim and first published in the United States in 1959 by the John C. Winston Co. Wollheim takes his heroes on a grand tour of the solar system as that team struggles to prevent an alien force from blowing up the sun. This is the last of three juvenile novels that Wollheim wrote for Winston, the other two being "The Secret of Saturn's Rings" and "The Secret of the Martian Moons". This is one of the thirty-five juvenile novels that