The sky on April 17, 1986 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Pisces, while the horoscope says "Aries". The gap is 23.7° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 27.2° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 117.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☿︎ Mercury — 360.0° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ♀︎ Venus — 48.6° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 279.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 342.7° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 249.0° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 51% 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, 51% lit; the Moon was 396,541 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
40.5 orbits of the Sun — 38,033 million km, that is 49,471 return trips to the Moon; 14,782 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 293.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 11.3 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 132 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 1.8×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 21, on the decline (96% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on September 3, 2027; Jupiter — in 2033; a full moon exactly on this date — April 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 2,016″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.7° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.