The sky on December 21, 1986 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 269.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 146.2° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 257.0° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 225.5° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 347.4° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 346.0° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 254.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 77% 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, 77% lit; the Moon was 399,542 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
39.8 orbits of the Sun — 37,391 million km, that is 48,635 return trips to the Moon; 14,532 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 288.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 11.1 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 189 million km away; today it is 246 million km (farther by 1.3×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, right at the minimum (3% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 8, 2028; Jupiter — in 2033; a full moon exactly on this date — December 20, 2029
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,980″ 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.