The sky on April 26, 2001 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aries, while the horoscope says "Taurus". The gap is 23.9° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 36.3° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon — 71.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 39.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♀︎ Venus — 2.2° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♂︎ Mars — 267.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 72.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 60.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 9% 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, 9% lit; the Moon was 377,396 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
25.4 orbits of the Sun — 23,910 million km, that is 31,101 return trips to the Moon; 9,293 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 184.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 7.1 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 103 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 2.4×).
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 (38% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on August 26, 2027; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — April 25, 2032
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,260″ 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/ap010426.html
NASA APOD
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