The sky on March 17, 1978 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Pisces — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 356.5° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 94.5° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 12.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♀︎ Venus — 9.7° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♂︎ Mars — 113.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 87.1° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 144.9° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 57% 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, 57% lit; the Moon was 404,419 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
48.6 orbits of the Sun — 45,629 million km, that is 59,351 return trips to the Moon; 17,734 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 352.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 13.6 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 143 million km away; today it is 245 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 (19% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on February 9, 2027; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — March 17, 2060
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.