The sky on February 17, 1989 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aquarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 328.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 113.5° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 302.4° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 317.2° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♂︎ Mars — 46.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 57.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 280.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 91% 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 gibbous, 91% lit; the Moon was 394,564 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
37.6 orbits of the Sun — 35,366 million km, that is 46,002 return trips to the Moon; 13,745 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 273.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.5 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 214 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 1.1×).
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 (25% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on August 18, 2028; Jupiter — in 2036.
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.