The sky on August 21, 1959 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 147.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 3.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 129.6° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♀︎ Venus — 163.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 170.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 233.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♄︎ Saturn — 270.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ 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 391,595 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
67.1 orbits of the Sun — 63,080 million km, that is 82,049 return trips to the Moon; 24,516 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 487.2 billion km around the Galactic centre, 18.8 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 379 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, near maximum (51% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 7, 2027; Jupiter — in 2030; 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 3,348″ 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.