The sky on May 17, 1976 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 56.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 286.0° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 61.3° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 48.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 120.6° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 42.3° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 118.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon 83% 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, 83% lit; the Moon was 377,035 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
50.4 orbits of the Sun — 47,353 million km, that is 61,593 return trips to the Moon; 18,404 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 365.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 14.1 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 275 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.1×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, right at the minimum (2% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on February 27, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — May 17, 2030
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,520″ 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.