Image: Venus pentagram
Description: The planet Venus orbits just over 13 times for every 8 orbits of the Earth, creating a pentagrammic pattern of inferior conjunctions. Each successive inferior conjunction occurs after about 1.6 Earth years and therefore shifts about 144 degrees in the direction opposite the Earth's orbital motion. During each cycle of 8 Earth years, the pentagram precesses about 1.5 degrees in the direction of Earth's orbital motion, reflecting the fact that the Earth:Venus orbital ratio is an approximate ('near') rather than a perfect orbital resonance. (Text written by TomRuen, FelineAvenger, and WolfmanSF)
Title: Venus pentagram
Credit: Computed, Originally uploaded to the English language Wikipedia Here's a similar plot from 1799! from James Ferguson’s, Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton’s Principles,1799 ed., plate III, opp. p. 67.
Author: Own work by Tomruen
Permission:
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No
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