The sky on April 12, 1988 — 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 — 22.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 328.5° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 14.1° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♀︎ Venus — 68.3° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 303.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 37.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 272.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 21% 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 crescent, 21% lit; the Moon was 365,574 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
38.5 orbits of the Sun — 36,167 million km, that is 47,043 return trips to the Moon; 14,056 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 279.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.8 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 192 million km away; today it is 243 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 (16% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 12, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — April 12, 2044
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,908″ 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.