Ever wondered if Mercury retrograde is to blame for your communication mixups or tech hiccups? You’re not alone. As this celestial event, where Mercury appears to spin backward in the night sky, makes headlines again from Aug. 5 to Aug.
27, 2024, it sparks both curiosity and skepticism. While astronomers view it as a cosmic illusion, many believe it influences our lives in significant ways. Sarah Rugheimer, a professor in astrophysics and an astrobiologist at York University, clears up the cosmic confusion.
“Mercury in retrograde just means that Mercury appears to reverse direction in the night sky and travel backwards,” she explains. “Planets generally move west to east across the sky, but they sometimes seem to do a loop backward for a short period.” Rugheimer says in the past, this odd behaviour was tough to explain because people thought Earth was the centre of the universe.
“Once we realized that we orbit the sun, the cause of this illusion became clear,” she says. Mercury goes retrograde about three to four times a year — April 1 to April 24, Aug. 5 to Aug.
27, and Nov. 25 to Dec. 15 — with each period lasting around three weeks.
“It happens so often because Mercury’s orbit around the sun is only 88 days, so it ‘laps’ us frequently,” Rugheimer adds. She advises those interested in spotting Mercury to check its position against other stars using an app like . “Remember, Mercury is visible only in the early evening or early morning, so timing.