The sky on September 17, 1983 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 174.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 301.6° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 170.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 143.3° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 142.2° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 244.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 212.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 81% 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, 81% lit; the Moon was 404,961 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
43.1 orbits of the Sun — 40,459 million km, that is 52,626 return trips to the Moon; 15,724 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 312.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.1 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 360 million km away; today it is 244 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, on the decline (72% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on December 21, 2026; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2054
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,160″ 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.