Direct Motion vs. Retrograde Motion

In general, on Earth, objects in the sky move east to west because of the Earth's rotation.

However, with respect to background stars, the Sun, Moon, and planets drift to the east as the Earth orbits the Sun.  This motion is called direct, or prograde, motion.

However, sometimes the planets may seem to move west with respect to the background stars.  This is because planets either are moving faster than Earth (Mercury and Venus) or slower than Earth (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune).

This is similar to when you are in a car and pass a slower vehicle.  With respect to the background, both your car and the slower vehicle are travelling in the same direction.  However, when you pass the slower vehicle, the slower vehicle looks to be travelling backwards with respect to the background.