The sky on December 17, 1983 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.6° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 265.0° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 51.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☿︎ Mercury — 285.0° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 222.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 196.7° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 262.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 222.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon 92% 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 gibbous, 92% lit; the Moon was 381,630 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
42.8 orbits of the Sun — 40,224 million km, that is 52,321 return trips to the Moon; 15,633 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 310.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 12 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 263 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 decline (74% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on March 22, 2027; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — December 16, 2032
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 2,124″ 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.