The sky on August 21, 1968 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 148.5° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 118.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☿︎ Mercury — 161.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 165.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 130.2° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 162.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 25.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 7% 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, 7% lit; the Moon was 394,067 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
58.1 orbits of the Sun — 54,619 million km, that is 71,045 return trips to the Moon; 21,228 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 421.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 16.3 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 383 million km away; today it is 246 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 20, on the rise to maximum (34% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on December 11, 2026; Jupiter — in 2027; 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 2,916″ 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.