The sky on December 5, 1979 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 252.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 94.4° · sign Cancer · constellation Orion
- ☿︎ Mercury — 232.4° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♀︎ Venus — 278.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 156.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 159.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 176.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 96% 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, 96% lit; the Moon was 385,989 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
46.8 orbits of the Sun — 44,015 million km, that is 57,251 return trips to the Moon; 17,106 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 339.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 13.1 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 180 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 1.4×).
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 (36% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on December 13, 2026; Jupiter — in 2026; a full moon exactly on this date — December 4, 2044
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,340″ 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.