The sky on April 9, 1987 — 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 — 19.1° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 144.1° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 354.9° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 344.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 62.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 9.1° · sign Aries · constellation Cetus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 261.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 79% 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, 79% lit; the Moon was 397,924 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
39.5 orbits of the Sun — 37,116 million km, that is 48,278 return trips to the Moon; 14,425 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 286.7 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 319 million km away; today it is 243 million km (closer 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 (6% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 8, 2026; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — April 9, 2028
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.