The sky on July 21, 2023 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Cancer — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 118.5° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon — 159.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 138.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 148.6° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 156.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 42.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 336.3° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 12% 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, 12% lit; the Moon was 405,644 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
3.2 orbits of the Sun — 3,013 million km, that is 3,919 return trips to the Moon; 1,171 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 23.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.9 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 348 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 25, on the rise to maximum (35% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 144″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 24.2° 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/ap230721.html
NASA APOD
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.