The sky on November 17, 1989 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Libra, while the horoscope says "Scorpio". The gap is 23.7° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 235.1° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon — 112.8° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 239.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♀︎ Venus — 281.9° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 218.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 100.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 280.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 77% 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 gibbous, 77% lit; the Moon was 377,212 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
36.9 orbits of the Sun — 34,663 million km, that is 45,088 return trips to the Moon; 13,472 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 267.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 10.3 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 378 million km away; today it is 243 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, on the rise to maximum (32% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 1, 2027; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — November 17, 2032
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 1,836″ 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.