The sky on September 18, 1957 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 175.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 102.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 161.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Sextans
- ♀︎ Venus — 215.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 176.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 188.4° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 248.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 36% 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]
last quarter, 36% lit; the Moon was 374,384 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
69 orbits of the Sun — 64,891 million km, that is 84,406 return trips to the Moon; 25,220 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 501.2 billion km around the Galactic centre, 19.3 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 398 million km away; today it is 243 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 (33% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 22, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2035
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.