There is a Mars retrograde this year, from September 9 to November 13. Mars appears to move backwards as Earth overtakes Mars. Below is a plot of its positions in the sky using d3.js. It also includes Jupiter and Saturn retrogrades, both from mid May to mid September.

As described in the earlier posts Mars close approach in 2016 and Mars or UFO, the coordinates of the planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) are computed via a small program using NASA’s SPICE toolkit, and the coordinates of the stars are retrieved from Wikipedia (e.g., Pisces).