The sky on January 17, 1942 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 296.8° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 304.9° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 312.7° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 320.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♂︎ Mars — 32.8° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 72.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 51.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 1% 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]
new moon, 1% lit; the Moon was 367,422 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
84.7 orbits of the Sun — 79,616 million km, that is 103,559 return trips to the Moon; 30,943 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 614.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 23.7 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 160 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 1.5×).
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 July 25, 2028; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — January 17, 2041
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.