Retrograde Motion of Mars in the Heliocentric Model

Under normal circumstances the planet appears to move to the East (upwards in the
diagram), but when it is being overtaken by the Earth our faster motion makes Mars
appear to be going backwards (downwards in the diagram). The normal motion is
called direct motion, and the backwards motion is called retrograde motion.

Simplified Model: Earth and Mars orbiting around the Sun with different speeds.

Mars is not actually stopping or reversing its orbital path in space! What we are
witnessing is merely an illusion based on perspective. Mars will continue to move in its
regular elliptical orbit around the sun. What we are seeing — the stopping, the
reversing of its path in the sky and the ultimate resumption of its regular path across
the sky — is solely a function of viewing Mars from our Earthly perspective as we each
travel through space in separate orbital paths at different speeds around the sun.

In fact, it's the same effect obtained when you pass another car on the highway: Both
cars are going in the same direction, but one is moving more slowly. As they pass,
the slower car will appear to be moving backward in relation to the faster one.
Copernicus applied the same effect to the planets out in space. In the upcoming
situation, both Earth and Mars are moving in the same direction around the sun, but
the slower one — Mars — appears to move backward compared to the faster one,
Earth.