The sky on October 17, 1976 — 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 — 204.2° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 127.7° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ☿︎ Mercury — 190.3° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 236.1° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 215.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 59.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 135.3° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon 39% 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, 39% lit; the Moon was 383,638 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
50 orbits of the Sun — 46,959 million km, that is 61,081 return trips to the Moon; 18,251 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 362.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 14 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 378 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.6×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, right at the minimum (6% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 30, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035; 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 2,484″ 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.