The sky on May 21, 1962 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 59.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 262.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 79.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 88.1° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 24.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 340.0° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 311.4° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon 96% 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, 96% lit; the Moon was 384,740 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
64.4 orbits of the Sun — 60,496 million km, that is 78,689 return trips to the Moon; 23,512 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 467.2 billion km around the Galactic centre, 18 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 312 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.3×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, on the decline (77% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 19, 2028; Jupiter — in 2033.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,240″ 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.