How we calculate: the methods behind Ask the Skies
The astronomy, the numerology rules and the AI behind every page and tool of Ask the Skies, with the sources we use and an honest note on precision.
Ask the Skies is published by Polar Codes. Every number, date and position on this site is calculated on our own servers with published methods, described below. Texts written by AI are marked as such, and the oracles you talk to are fictional characters, not people.
Everything here is offered for entertainment and self-reflection. Astrology and tarot are symbolic traditions. The astronomy is science, and this page keeps the two apart: first what is measured and calculated, then what is read into it.
Moon phases and eclipses
The lunar calendar uses the algorithms of Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms (2nd edition), chapters 49 and 54: the mean phase plus the periodic terms for each new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter, and the geometry of solar and lunar eclipses. Times are converted from dynamical time to universal time with a straight-line estimate of the difference, about 69 seconds today.
We compared every phase of 2026 and 2027 with the table of the US Naval Observatory: they agree to about a minute. The eclipses of 2026 to 2028 match the NASA eclipse catalogs in date and type. The sign of the Moon at each new and full moon is its apparent position at that moment.
Mercury retrograde
Mercury's and the Earth's positions come from the Keplerian elements published by E. M. Standish for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Approximate Positions of the Planets, valid for 1800 to 2050), solved with Kepler's equation. We follow Mercury's longitude day by day, find where its motion changes direction and refine the moment by bisection. The shadow is the stretch where Mercury crosses, going direct, the degrees it will later cover backward.
Stations agree with published tables to within a day, and the dates are in UTC.
The birth chart and the Saturn return
Positions of the Sun, the Moon and the planets come from a port of Astronomy Engine by Don Cross (MIT licence): truncated VSOP87 series for the planets, a lunar theory in the style of the Improved Lunar Ephemeris, light time, aberration, nutation (IAU 2000B) and precession (IAU 2006). Pluto, which has no VSOP87 series, comes from the Standish elements. The Saturn return uses the same engine, so the chart and the return always agree.
In our tests the planets agree with Astronomy Engine itself to well within a tenth of a degree. The Ascendant, the Midheaven and the houses (Placidus, or Whole Sign above 66 degrees of latitude) depend on the birth time, because they turn about one degree every four minutes. Without a time we draw the chart for local noon and leave those points out.
A Saturn return is found by following Saturn day by day from the birth until its longitude crosses the natal one, then refining each crossing to within minutes. Near a return Saturn is often retrograde, so there are frequently three exact passes.
The Moon today
The Moon-phase-today tool shows the current phase from the angle between the Sun and the Moon, with a simpler method than the lunar calendar. Its phase times can differ from the calendar by a few hours, and the calendar is the more exact of the two.
Chinese horoscope, numbers and compatibility
The Chinese horoscope uses a table of the Chinese New Year dates from 1900 to 2100, the same lunisolar table most calendar libraries use. The year starts at the Chinese New Year, so a birth in January or February may belong to the previous animal. The animal is the year minus 4, modulo 12, and the element comes from the heavenly stem.
Numerology uses the Pythagorean table, where each letter is worth 1 to 9 by its place in the alphabet, and reduces sums by adding digits, keeping the master numbers 11, 22 and 33. The personal arcanum adds every digit of the birth date and, when the sum is above 22, subtracts 22 until it is 22 or less (22 is The Fool), so all 22 Major Arcana can come out. The personal year, month and day come from the birth date and the date of the day. The lucky numbers are six numbers from 1 to 60 chosen by a fixed shuffle seeded with the name and the date, so the same input always gives the same numbers. They are a game, not a method.
The personal arcanum adds every digit of the birth date and, above 22, adds the digits of the sum again, with the numbering of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Sign compatibility comes from a fixed table based on the distance between the two signs on the wheel, their elements and their modalities, so a pair gives the same answer in either order.
What the AI writes
The horoscopes of the day, the week, the month and the year are written by a language model. For each sign and period, the levels of love, work, money and energy are chosen in code from the sign and the date, the same for everyone, and the model writes the text around those levels. It also receives facts from the sky above, such as the moon phases, the eclipses and the Mercury retrograde periods. Each text is written once and shared, not written for each visitor, and a rule checks it before it is shown.
The oracles are fictional characters created for this site, such as Selene and Orion. They are AI: their answers come from a language model that receives the cards or numbers calculated by the site and the character's style. No human astrologer or tarot reader writes the chat, and no person is behind a name. The meanings of the tarot and Lenormand cards on the card pages are texts written for this site.
How precise it is, honestly
Moon phases agree with the US Naval Observatory table to about a minute. Eclipse dates and types agree with NASA. Mercury stations and Saturn crossings are right to within a day, usually to within hours. Planet positions in the chart agree with Astronomy Engine to a small fraction of a degree. Chart houses and angles are only as good as the birth time you give.
Calculation is not the same as meaning. Nothing here promises an outcome, and none of it replaces medical, legal or financial advice. If you find a mistake in a date or a text, write to us through the contact page and we will check it.
Sources and references
Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd edition, Willmann-Bell (chapters 47, 49 and 54: the Moon, the phases and the eclipses)
E. M. Standish, Approximate Positions of the Planets (NASA JPL, Keplerian elements for 1800 to 2050) (https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/approx_pos.html)
Astronomy Engine by Don Cross (MIT licence), the VSOP87 planets, nutation and precession behind the chart (https://github.com/cosinekitty/astronomy)
US Naval Observatory, moon phases table, used to check the lunar calendar (https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/MoonPhases)
NASA Eclipse Web Site (Fred Espenak), used to check the eclipses (https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/)
Espenak and Meeus, polynomial expressions for Delta T, used by the birth chart engine to convert between dynamical and universal time
Questions
Who writes the content of Ask the Skies?
The site is published by Polar Codes. The dates, positions and numbers are calculated by the site itself. The horoscopes and the chats are written by AI, and the guides and pages are published under the site's name.
Are the oracles real people?
No. Selene, Orion and the other oracles are fictional characters, and what they say is written by AI. There is no human astrologer or tarot reader behind them.
How accurate are the dates and positions?
Moon phases are right to about a minute, eclipses match NASA, and Mercury stations and Saturn crossings are right to within a day. The Ascendant and houses depend on your birth time.
Is the daily horoscope written by AI?
Yes. The levels of love, work and energy come from the sign and the date in code, and a language model writes the text around them. It is written once per sign and day and shared.