Why use an exact date lookup?
A daily ephemeris prints one reference time per date. A fast Moon can travel more than half a degree per hour, so its sign near a boundary may differ from a noon row. This explorer calculates the entered minute directly. A two-date comparison gives each body's shorter angular separation on the zodiac circle. It does not count its revolutions or reconstruct every position between the dates.
What the positions mean
The calculator shows the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto as viewed from the centre of Earth. The value is apparent geocentric longitude along the tropical true ecliptic of the chosen date. Zodiac signs are 30° labels on that 360° circle. This is a position table, without houses, birthplace, local horizon, or a personal reading.
The calculations use the locally bundled Astronomy Engine 2.1.19 GeoVector and Ecliptic functions. The selected UTC minute is used directly, rather than interpolating a noon table. The range is deliberately limited to 1800–2100; dates outside it have not been validated for this site. Its tables, data files, and layout are not used here.