The sky on December 20, 1941 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 268.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 297.0° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 267.4° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 311.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♂︎ Mars — 20.0° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 74.8° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 52.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 6% 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, 6% lit; the Moon was 365,715 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
84.8 orbits of the Sun — 79,687 million km, that is 103,652 return trips to the Moon; 30,971 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 615.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 23.8 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 122 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 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 27, 2028; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — December 20, 2048
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,248″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.1° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.