The sky on August 21, 1961 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 148.2° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 264.0° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 155.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 110.5° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 182.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 299.0° · sign Capricorn · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 294.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 72% 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]
waxing gibbous, 72% lit; the Moon was 372,087 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
65.1 orbits of the Sun — 61,199 million km, that is 79,603 return trips to the Moon; 23,785 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 472.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 18.2 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 349 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, on the decline (70% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 20, 2027; Jupiter — in 2032; 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 3,276″ 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.