The sky on September 18, 1939 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 174.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 241.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 171.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 178.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 298.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Capricornus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 5.0° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 30.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 31% 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]
waxing crescent, 31% lit; the Moon was 382,336 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
87 orbits of the Sun — 81,808 million km, that is 106,410 return trips to the Moon; 31,795 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 631.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24.4 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 82 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 3×).
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 February 11, 2028; Jupiter — in 2034; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2035
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,356″ 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.