The sky on December 21, 1972 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 269.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 105.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 249.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 243.4° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ♂︎ Mars — 233.8° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 285.4° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 76.1° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 98% 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]
full moon, 98% lit; the Moon was 361,682 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
53.8 orbits of the Sun — 50,546 million km, that is 65,747 return trips to the Moon; 19,645 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 390.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 15.1 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 341 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, on the decline (72% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 8, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — December 20, 2029
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.