The sky on February 21, 1974 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aquarius, while the horoscope says "Pisces". The gap is 23.5° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 332.5° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 324.3° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 339.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 297.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 56.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 326.4° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 87.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Orion
- ☽︎ Moon 1% 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]
new moon, 1% lit; the Moon was 401,765 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
52.6 orbits of the Sun — 49,448 million km, that is 64,319 return trips to the Moon; 19,218 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 381.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 14.7 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 200 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 1.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 20, on the decline (82% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 21, 2026; Jupiter — in 2033; a full moon exactly on this date — February 20, 2027
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,628″ 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.