The sky on September 19, 2024 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 177.0° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 16.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 167.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 205.6° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 98.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 80.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 345.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 97% 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]
full moon, 97% lit; the Moon was 358,134 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
2 orbits of the Sun — 1,922 million km, that is 2,500 return trips to the Moon; 747 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 14.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.6 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 197 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 1.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 25, near maximum (46% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 24, 2028; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — September 19, 2032
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/ap240919.html
NASA APOD
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