2003
Mercury was retrograde four times in 2003, for 86 days in all: in Capricorn in early winter, in Taurus in mid-spring, in Virgo in late summer and in Capricorn → Sagittarius in early winter.
The year wound into a circle, January at the top. Distance from the centre is Mercury’s daily motion; wherever the trace dips inside the zero circle, Mercury is moving backward: four dips, four retrogrades. Each shaded block runs from the station-retrograde day to the station-direct day, both counted, in UTC; the trace is sampled at noon, so it can cross zero a day inside or outside the block.
Four retrogrades
Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn → Sagittarius.
| Station R | Station D | Sign | Shadow in | Shadow out | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan 2003 | 23 Jan 2003 | Capricorn | 17 Dec 2002 | 11 Feb 2003 | 22 |
| 26 Apr 2003 | 20 May 2003 | Taurus | 12 Apr 2003 | 5 Jun 2003 | 25 |
| 28 Aug 2003 | 20 Sep 2003 | Virgo | 8 Aug 2003 | 4 Oct 2003 | 24 |
| 17 Dec 2003 | 6 Jan 2004 | Capricorn → Sagittarius | 30 Nov 2003 | 25 Jan 2004 | 21 |
| Total | 86 |
Every planet in 2003
Eleven retrogrades touched 2003 across the eight planets.
One row per planet. The solid band runs from the day of the station retrograde to the day of the station direct, both counted; the hatched band is the shadow on either side, from the day the planet first reaches the degree it will retreat to until the day it passes the degree where it turned. Days are UTC calendar days; a planet’s sign in the readout is its apparent geocentric longitude at noon UTC. Point at the figure, or focus it and use the arrow keys, to read any day.
Computed from the ephemeris and checked against NASA JPL Horizons; times UTC. Every planet’s 2003 windows as data: JSON · CSV · how the dates are computed
Questions
- 01When was Mercury retrograde in 2003?
- Mercury was retrograde January 2 – January 23 in Capricorn; April 26 – May 20 in Taurus; August 28 – September 20 in Virgo; December 17 – January 6, 2004 in Capricorn → Sagittarius (station retrograde to station direct). Each window is bracketed by a pre- and post-shadow period — the full dates are in the table above.
- 02How many retrogrades happened in 2003?
- 11 retrograde windows touched 2003 across the eight planets: Mercury 4×, Mars 1×, Jupiter 1×, Saturn 2×, Uranus 1×, Neptune 1×, Pluto 1×. Because the outer planets are each retrograde for four to five months at a time, some part of the sky was retrograde for most of the year.
- 03Which planets were not retrograde in 2003?
- Venus ran direct all year — its next retrograde started May 17, 2004 in Gemini.
- 04What is a retrograde shadow period?
- The shadow (or “retroshade”) is the stretch of sky a planet covers three times: once moving forward, once apparently backward, once forward again. The pre-shadow begins when the planet first crosses the degree it will later retrograde back to; the post-shadow ends when it finally re-passes the degree where it first stationed. The ledger above lists both dates for each Mercury window, and the station chart draws the shadow of every planet’s.
Station alerts
A heads-up before every turn.
An email 3 days before the shadow and each station, one when it turns retrograde, and an all‑clear when it goes direct. Plus a note on each Mercury cazimi.
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