The sky on January 29, 2001 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Capricornus, while the horoscope says "Aquarius". The gap is 23.9° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 309.7° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon — 3.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 328.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 356.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ♂︎ Mars — 231.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 61.2° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 54.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 21% 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, 21% lit; the Moon was 398,785 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
25.7 orbits of the Sun — 24,133 million km, that is 31,390 return trips to the Moon; 9,379 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 186.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 7.2 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 226 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 1.1×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 23, on the rise to maximum (36% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 31, 2027; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — January 29, 2040
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,296″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.9° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr - Picture of the day [EXACT]
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for this date: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010129.html
NASA APOD
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