The sky on September 17, 1973 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 174.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 56.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 186.5° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 214.8° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 39.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 302.5° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 93.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☽︎ Moon 74% 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]
waning gibbous, 74% lit; the Moon was 372,599 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
53.1 orbits of the Sun — 49,856 million km, that is 64,849 return trips to the Moon; 19,377 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 385.1 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 74 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 3.3×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, on the decline (79% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 3, 2028; Jupiter — in 2032; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2054
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.