The sky on February 16, 1983 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aquarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 327.2° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 6.4° · sign Aries · constellation Cetus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 302.6° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 352.1° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 353.4° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 248.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 214.4° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 11% 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, 11% lit; the Moon was 394,642 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
43.6 orbits of the Sun — 41,006 million km, that is 53,338 return trips to the Moon; 15,937 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 316.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12.2 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 332 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, on the decline (66% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 8, 2028; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — February 16, 2041
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,196″ 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.