The sky on May 12, 1981 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aries, while the horoscope says "Taurus". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 51.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon — 159.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 67.9° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 60.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 42.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 180.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 183.5° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 66% 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]
first quarter, 66% lit; the Moon was 394,987 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
45.4 orbits of the Sun — 42,664 million km, that is 55,494 return trips to the Moon; 16,581 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 329.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.7 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 364 million km away; today it is 245 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, near maximum (49% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 20, 2028; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — May 12, 2044
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,268″ 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.