The sky on May 18, 1956 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 57.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 164.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 68.3° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 95.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 320.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 142.9° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 239.7° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon 64% 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]
first quarter, 64% lit; the Moon was 377,382 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
70.4 orbits of the Sun — 66,146 million km, that is 86,037 return trips to the Moon; 25,708 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 510.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 19.7 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 137 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 1.8×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, on the rise to maximum (20% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on November 7, 2027; Jupiter — in 2027.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,528″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.3° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.