The sky on August 31, 1972 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo, while the horoscope says "Virgo". The gap is 23.5° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 158.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 67.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 141.6° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 112.4° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 160.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 268.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 79.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 51% 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, 51% lit; the Moon was 370,370 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
54.1 orbits of the Sun — 50,837 million km, that is 66,125 return trips to the Moon; 19,758 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 392.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 15.2 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 400 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.6×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, on the decline (69% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 18, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — August 31, 2042
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,700″ 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.