The sky on October 21, 1987 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo, while the horoscope says "Libra". The gap is 23.7° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 207.6° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 192.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 221.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♀︎ Venus — 223.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 188.2° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 24.3° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 257.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 2% 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]
new moon, 2% lit; the Moon was 389,215 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
39 orbits of the Sun — 36,609 million km, that is 47,618 return trips to the Moon; 14,228 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 282.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.9 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 383 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.6×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, right at the minimum (11% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on April 21, 2027; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — October 21, 2059
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,944″ 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.