The sky on January 13, 1939 — 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 — 292.4° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 213.8° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 271.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 246.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 230.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 333.0° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 12.0° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 40% 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]
last quarter, 40% lit; the Moon was 387,517 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
87.7 orbits of the Sun — 82,442 million km, that is 107,234 return trips to the Moon; 32,041 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 636.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24.6 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 273 million km away; today it is 245 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 June 8, 2027; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — January 13, 2036
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,392″ 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.