The sky on December 18, 1929 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 266.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 114.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 277.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 254.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 261.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 69.4° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 272.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon 94% 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, 94% lit; the Moon was 359,336 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
96.8 orbits of the Sun — 90,970 million km, that is 118,328 return trips to the Moon; 35,356 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 702.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 27.1 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 367 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 8, 2027; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — December 17, 2051
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,860″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 22.9° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.