The sky on February 16, 1943 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Aquarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 326.9° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 106.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 300.6° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 348.8° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 285.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 106.1° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 65.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 88% 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 gibbous, 88% lit; the Moon was 405,732 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
83.6 orbits of the Sun — 78,600 million km, that is 102,238 return trips to the Moon; 30,548 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 607.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 23.4 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 308 million km away; today it is 243 million km (closer by 1.3×).
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 October 7, 2027; Jupiter — in 2038; a full moon exactly on this date — February 16, 2041
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,212″ 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.