The sky on March 29, 2016 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Pisces, while the horoscope says "Aries". The gap is 24.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 9.2° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon — 254.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 15.1° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♀︎ Venus — 351.1° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 246.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 165.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 256.4° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon 71% 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, 71% lit; the Moon was 399,444 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
10.5 orbits of the Sun — 9,883 million km, that is 12,856 return trips to the Moon; 3,841 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 76.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 2.9 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 121 million km away; today it is 245 million km (farther by 2×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 24, on the decline (67% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on July 12, 2027; Jupiter — in 2028; a full moon exactly on this date — March 28, 2040
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/ap160329.html
NASA APOD
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