The sky on August 31, 1973 — 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 — 157.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 200.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 155.6° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 194.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 36.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 303.5° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 92.8° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☽︎ Moon 13% 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]
waxing crescent, 13% lit; the Moon was 386,379 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
53.1 orbits of the Sun — 49,898 million km, that is 64,904 return trips to the Moon; 19,393 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 385.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 14.9 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 85 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 2.9×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, on the decline (78% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 17, 2028; Jupiter — in 2032; 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 2,664″ 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.