The sky on May 15, 2012 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 55.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 355.1° · sign Pisces · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 41.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♀︎ Venus — 84.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 158.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 53.6° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 204.1° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 25% 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, 25% lit; the Moon was 399,361 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
14.4 orbits of the Sun — 13,521 million km, that is 17,588 return trips to the Moon; 5,255 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 104.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 4 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 158 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 1.6×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 24, on the rise to maximum (31% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 2, 2027; 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 720″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 24° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr - Picture of the day [EXACT]
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for this date: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120515.html
NASA APOD
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