The sky on December 3, 1988 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.7° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 251.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 185.5° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 252.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 222.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 7.4° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 59.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 272.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 30% 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, 30% lit; the Moon was 403,384 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
37.8 orbits of the Sun — 35,562 million km, that is 46,256 return trips to the Moon; 13,821 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 274.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.6 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 109 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 2.2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 22, on the rise to maximum (23% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 3, 2028; Jupiter — in 2035.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,872″ 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.