The sky on May 20, 1987 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 59.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 333.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 73.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 33.6° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♂︎ Mars — 89.6° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 18.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 259.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 46% 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]
last quarter, 46% lit; the Moon was 374,017 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
39.4 orbits of the Sun — 37,009 million km, that is 48,139 return trips to the Moon; 14,384 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 285.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 11 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 359 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, right at the minimum (7% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on November 18, 2026; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — May 20, 2027
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.