The sky on January 3, 1971 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.4° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 282.5° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 3.3° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 269.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 236.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 227.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 238.1° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♄︎ Saturn — 45.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 42% 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]
first quarter, 42% lit; the Moon was 370,326 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
55.8 orbits of the Sun — 52,397 million km, that is 68,154 return trips to the Moon; 20,364 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 404.7 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 296 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, near maximum (55% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 7, 2027; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — January 3, 2045
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.