The sky on May 1, 2024 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aries, while the horoscope says "Taurus". The gap is 24.2° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 41.6° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon — 311.9° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 17.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♀︎ Venus — 32.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 0.7° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 54.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 346.7° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 50% 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]
last quarter, 50% lit; the Moon was 373,523 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
2.4 orbits of the Sun — 2,283 million km, that is 2,970 return trips to the Moon; 887 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 17.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.7 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 295 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.2×).
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 (42% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on February 4, 2028; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — May 1, 2045
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 108″ 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/ap240501.html
NASA APOD
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