The sky on September 21, 1956 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 178.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 14.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 188.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 133.8° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♂︎ Mars — 345.4° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 165.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 238.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon 98% 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]
full moon, 98% lit; the Moon was 390,698 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
70 orbits of the Sun — 65,818 million km, that is 85,611 return trips to the Moon; 25,580 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 508.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 19.6 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 59 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 4.2×).
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 (24% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 12, 2028; Jupiter — in 2027; a full moon exactly on this date — September 20, 2040
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.