The sky on August 17, 1988 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 144.8° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 198.9° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 158.6° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 99.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 10.9° · sign Aries · constellation Cetus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 63.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 266.1° · sign Sagittarius · 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]
waxing crescent, 21% lit; the Moon was 402,450 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
38.1 orbits of the Sun — 35,839 million km, that is 46,617 return trips to the Moon; 13,929 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 276.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.7 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 71 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 3.4×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, right at the minimum (20% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on February 16, 2028; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — August 17, 2027
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,908″ 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.