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• Relative to the backdrop stars, Mars and Saturn are traveling eastward upon the racetrack of the ecliptic. However, the closer a planet circles the sun, the faster it travels along its smaller orbit. For instance, it takes Mars a little less than two Earth-years to circle the sun, whereas Saturn takes a whopping 29.5 Earth-years.
• The orbital velocity of Mars, the fourth planet outward from the sun, is about eight-tenths (8/10) as great as Earth's orbital velocity. But Saturn, the sixth planet outward, moves along at about one-third (1/3) as fast as Earth does. Incidentally, our planet Earth - the third planet outward - circles the sun at some 107,000 kilometers (67,000 miles) per hour.
• Watch day by day, as the swifter-moving Mars finally catches up with the slower-plodding Saturn by mid-August 2012.
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