The sky on September 17, 1977 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 174.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 227.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☿︎ Mercury — 157.6° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 143.8° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 99.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 94.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 144.8° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 20% 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]
waxing crescent, 20% lit; the Moon was 369,379 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
49.1 orbits of the Sun — 46,098 million km, that is 59,961 return trips to the Moon; 17,916 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 356 billion km around the Galactic centre, 13.7 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 210 million km away; today it is 243 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 21, right at the minimum (15% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 29, 2028; Jupiter — in 2036; 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 2,448″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.6° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.