The sky on August 20, 1981 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 147.4° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 29.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 157.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 182.3° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 111.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 189.5° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 187.4° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 73% 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, 73% lit; the Moon was 370,162 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
45.1 orbits of the Sun — 42,406 million km, that is 55,159 return trips to the Moon; 16,481 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 327.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.6 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 341 million km away; today it is 245 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 (52% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 11, 2026; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — August 20, 2062
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.