The sky on July 20, 1969 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Cancer — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 117.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon — 183.5° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 115.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♀︎ Venus — 74.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 242.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 180.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 38.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 30% 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, 30% lit; the Moon was 391,083 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
57.2 orbits of the Sun — 53,766 million km, that is 69,935 return trips to the Moon; 20,896 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 415.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 16 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 88 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 2.8×).
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 (42% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on November 9, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — July 20, 2035
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.