The sky on January 17, 1938 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.0° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 296.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 134.1° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ☿︎ Mercury — 272.8° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 292.5° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 350.2° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 306.5° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 0.2° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 98% 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]
full moon, 98% lit; the Moon was 364,334 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
88.7 orbits of the Sun — 83,374 million km, that is 108,447 return trips to the Moon; 32,403 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 643.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24.9 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 265 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.1×).
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 April 29, 2028; Jupiter — in 2033; a full moon exactly on this date — January 17, 2041
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,464″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.