The sky on January 12, 1940 — 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 — 291.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 324.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 279.4° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 322.5° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♂︎ Mars — 5.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 2.7° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♄︎ Saturn — 24.6° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☽︎ Moon 8% 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, 8% lit; the Moon was 403,355 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
86.7 orbits of the Sun — 81,508 million km, that is 106,020 return trips to the Moon; 31,678 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 629.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24.3 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 206 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 1.2×).
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 6, 2028; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — January 12, 2028
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.