The sky on December 26, 1980 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 274.9° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 153.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 272.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 250.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 296.5° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 189.1° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 189.3° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 76% 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]
waning gibbous, 76% lit; the Moon was 392,431 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
45.8 orbits of the Sun — 43,020 million km, that is 55,957 return trips to the Moon; 16,720 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 332.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.8 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 338 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, 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 January 4, 2028; Jupiter — in 2027.
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.