The sky on May 21, 1963 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 59.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 36.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Cetus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 54.6° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 33.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 143.9° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 10.5° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 323.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon 4% 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, 4% lit; the Moon was 359,179 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
63.4 orbits of the Sun — 59,557 million km, that is 77,467 return trips to the Moon; 23,147 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 460 billion km around the Galactic centre, 17.8 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 211 million km away; today it is 246 million km (farther by 1.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, on the decline (87% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 2, 2027; Jupiter — in 2034.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,168″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.4° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.