The sky on July 21, 1951 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Cancer — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 117.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon — 335.1° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 141.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 160.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 101.7° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 13.9° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 177.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 90% illuminated
astronomy-engine ephemerides (VSOP87/ELP), IAU 1930 constellation boundaries. Positions accurate to a fraction of a degree.
The day’s dossier, from real data
Checkable facts with a tag and a source; the classical reading is in the chart.
- The Moon that day [EXACT]
waning gibbous, 90% lit; the Moon was 369,074 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
75.2 orbits of the Sun — 70,678 million km, that is 91,933 return trips to the Moon; 27,469 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 545.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 21.1 light-days.
29.78 km/s along the orbit; 230 km/s around the Galactic centre - Mars then and now [EXACT]
On that day Mars was 378 million km away; today it is 245 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 14, 2026; Jupiter — in 2034.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,780″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.2° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.