The sky on January 7, 1978 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 286.8° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 263.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 263.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 283.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 127.1° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 89.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 149.9° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 4% 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 crescent, 4% lit; the Moon was 358,428 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
48.7 orbits of the Sun — 45,805 million km, that is 59,580 return trips to the Moon; 17,802 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 353.8 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 100 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 2.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, right at the minimum (18% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on December 2, 2026; Jupiter — in 2037.
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.