The sky on March 11, 2016 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aquarius, while the horoscope says "Pisces". The gap is 24.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 351.3° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 25.2° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 340.4° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 328.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 241.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 167.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 256.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 9% 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 crescent, 9% lit; the Moon was 360,749 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
10.6 orbits of the Sun — 9,930 million km, that is 12,916 return trips to the Moon; 3,859 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 76.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 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 146 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 1.7×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 24, on the decline (66% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 24, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — March 11, 2028
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 504″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 24.1° 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/ap160311.html
NASA APOD
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