The sky on November 17, 1977 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Libra, while the horoscope says "Scorpio". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 235.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon — 319.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 251.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 219.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 127.8° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 95.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 150.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 46% 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]
first quarter, 46% lit; the Moon was 375,877 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
48.9 orbits of the Sun — 45,941 million km, that is 59,757 return trips to the Moon; 17,855 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 354.8 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 144 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 1.7×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, right at the minimum (16% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 12, 2026; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — November 17, 2032
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.