The sky on August 21, 1957 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 148.1° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 93.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Orion
- ☿︎ Mercury — 173.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 181.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 158.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 182.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 247.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 22% 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 crescent, 22% lit; the Moon was 372,379 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
69.1 orbits of the Sun — 64,958 million km, that is 84,492 return trips to the Moon; 25,246 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 501.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 19.4 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 396 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.6×).
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 (32% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — August 21, 2032
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,456″ 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.