The sky on July 17, 1942 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Gemini, while the horoscope says "Cancer". The gap is 23.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 114.3° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☽︎ Moon — 159.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 97.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♀︎ Venus — 83.1° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♂︎ Mars — 140.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 98.4° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 68.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 15% 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, 15% lit; the Moon was 392,967 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
84.2 orbits of the Sun — 79,150 million km, that is 102,953 return trips to the Moon; 30,762 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 611.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 23.6 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 376 million km away; today it is 243 million km (closer 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 March 7, 2027; Jupiter — in 2037.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,212″ 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.