The sky on August 16, 1979 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 143.0° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 73.6° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 124.9° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♀︎ Venus — 140.6° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♂︎ Mars — 95.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 140.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 164.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 33% 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, 33% lit; the Moon was 390,648 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
47.1 orbits of the Sun — 44,299 million km, that is 57,621 return trips to the Moon; 17,217 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 342.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 13.2 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 298 million km away; today it is 245 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 21, on the rise to maximum (33% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 10, 2028; Jupiter — in 2026; a full moon exactly on this date — August 16, 2065
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,376″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.6° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.