The sky on August 16, 1980 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 143.8° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 206.9° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 133.4° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♀︎ Venus — 98.3° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 201.9° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 164.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 175.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 28% 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, 28% lit; the Moon was 404,917 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
46.1 orbits of the Sun — 43,358 million km, that is 56,397 return trips to the Moon; 16,851 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 334.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.9 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 270 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.1×).
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 (42% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on August 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2027; 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 2,304″ 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.