The sky on December 17, 1940 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 265.4° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 117.6° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ☿︎ Mercury — 251.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 235.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 227.7° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 36.0° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 38.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 92% 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, 92% lit; the Moon was 383,547 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
85.8 orbits of the Sun — 80,634 million km, that is 104,883 return trips to the Moon; 31,339 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 622.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24 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 339 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.4×).
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 25, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — December 16, 2032
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,320″ 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.