The sky on December 15, 1970 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.4° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 263.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 114.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 282.9° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 223.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 215.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 234.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♄︎ Saturn — 46.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 93% 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, 93% lit; the Moon was 395,179 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
55.8 orbits of the Sun — 52,449 million km, that is 68,222 return trips to the Moon; 20,384 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 405.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 15.6 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 319 million km away; today it is 243 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 20, near maximum (54% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 19, 2027; Jupiter — in 2029; a full moon exactly on this date — December 15, 2035
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,808″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.5° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.