The sky on May 18, 2012 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 57.9° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 31.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☿︎ Mercury — 47.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♀︎ Venus — 83.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 159.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 54.3° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 203.9° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 6% 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, 6% lit; the Moon was 405,928 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
14.4 orbits of the Sun — 13,514 million km, that is 17,578 return trips to the Moon; 5,252 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 162 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 1.5×).
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 5, 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/ap120518.html
NASA APOD
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