The sky on January 21, 1971 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Capricornus, while the horoscope says "Aquarius". The gap is 23.4° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 300.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon — 230.7° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☿︎ Mercury — 276.8° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 253.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 239.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 241.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Libra
- ♄︎ Saturn — 45.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 33% 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]
last quarter, 33% lit; the Moon was 390,465 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
55.7 orbits of the Sun — 52,348 million km, that is 68,090 return trips to the Moon; 20,345 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 404.3 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 272 million km away; today it is 245 million km (closer by 1.1×).
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 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — January 21, 2038
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.