The sky on May 20, 1969 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 59.3° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 105.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 71.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 17.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♂︎ Mars — 253.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 176.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 32.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 15% 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 crescent, 15% lit; the Moon was 405,696 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
57.4 orbits of the Sun — 53,924 million km, that is 70,141 return trips to the Moon; 20,958 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 416.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 16.1 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 77 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 3.2×).
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 (41% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on September 9, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — May 20, 2027
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,880″ 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.