The sky on March 13, 1987 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Pisces — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 352.4° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 148.5° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 330.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 312.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♂︎ Mars — 44.3° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 2.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 260.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 96% 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, 96% lit; the Moon was 396,413 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
39.6 orbits of the Sun — 37,180 million km, that is 48,362 return trips to the Moon; 14,450 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 287.2 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 289 million km away; today it is 245 million km (closer by 1.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, right at the minimum (5% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 29, 2028; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — March 13, 2055
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.