The sky on March 17, 1981 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Pisces — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 356.8° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 140.9° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 329.3° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 351.5° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 0.3° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 186.6° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 187.2° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 91% 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 gibbous, 91% lit; the Moon was 391,004 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
45.6 orbits of the Sun — 42,808 million km, that is 55,681 return trips to the Moon; 16,637 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 330.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.8 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 357 million km away; today it is 245 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, near maximum (48% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 25, 2028; Jupiter — in 2028; 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 2,268″ 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.