The sky on May 21, 1979 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 59.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 2.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 49.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♀︎ Venus — 34.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 34.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 123.6° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♄︎ Saturn — 157.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 23% 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, 23% lit; the Moon was 372,200 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
47.4 orbits of the Sun — 44,520 million km, that is 57,909 return trips to the Moon; 17,303 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 343.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 13.3 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 337 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, on the rise to maximum (31% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 14, 2028; Jupiter — in 2026.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,376″ 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.