The sky on January 20, 1984 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Capricornus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 299.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon — 146.5° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 275.4° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 263.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 214.7° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 270.2° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 225.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon 94% 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, 94% lit; the Moon was 359,863 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
42.7 orbits of the Sun — 40,138 million km, that is 52,209 return trips to the Moon; 15,600 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 310 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 212 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther 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 (75% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — January 19, 2030
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.