The sky on September 21, 1990 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 178.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 206.9° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 160.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 167.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 69.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 126.7° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♄︎ Saturn — 288.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 6% 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 crescent, 6% lit; the Moon was 398,747 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
36 orbits of the Sun — 33,866 million km, that is 44,050 return trips to the Moon; 13,162 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 261.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.1 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 110 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 2.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, on the rise to maximum (41% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 4, 2028; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — September 20, 2040
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,800″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.7° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.