The sky on October 17, 1973 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo, while the horoscope says "Libra". The gap is 23.5° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 204.0° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 95.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 228.4° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♀︎ Venus — 249.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 34.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 302.9° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 94.8° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☽︎ Moon 66% 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, 66% lit; the Moon was 368,701 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
53 orbits of the Sun — 49,778 million km, that is 64,747 return trips to the Moon; 19,346 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 384.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 14.8 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 65 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 3.7×).
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 May 3, 2028; Jupiter — in 2032; a full moon exactly on this date — October 17, 2035
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.