To begin with, it should be quite evident that we cannot ever have a transit of a superior planet.
Neptune, of course, would be visible and be the only superior planet.
The smaller arcs represent the orbits of the superior planet, Mars, and the earth around the sun, S.
A superior planet will be at its greatest distance from us when on the far side of the sun.
| superior planet Any of the planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, whose orbits lie beyond that of Earth. Because these planets never come between the Earth and Sun, they do not exhibit crescent phases, only full and gibbous. Unlike the inferior planets Mercury and Venus, superior planets rise in the east and set in the west in the normal pattern of celestial objects. Compare inferior planet. See also inner planet. |
