The sky on May 15, 2013 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 54.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 114.7° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 59.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 67.2° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 48.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 80.6° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 216.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 25% 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, 25% lit; the Moon was 403,932 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
13.4 orbits of the Sun — 12,585 million km, that is 16,370 return trips to the Moon; 4,891 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 97.2 billion km around the Galactic centre, 3.8 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 368 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 24, on the rise to maximum (40% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 1, 2028; Jupiter — in 2037.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 648″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 24.1° 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/ap130515.html
NASA APOD
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