The sky on July 22, 1981 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Cancer — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 119.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon — 4.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 101.3° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♀︎ Venus — 147.5° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 92.8° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 184.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 184.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 71% 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 gibbous, 71% lit; the Moon was 375,213 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
45.2 orbits of the Sun — 42,480 million km, that is 55,255 return trips to the Moon; 16,510 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 328.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.7 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 355 million km away; today it is 245 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, near maximum (51% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 30, 2028; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — July 22, 2043
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.