The sky on December 17, 1943 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 264.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 149.3° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 283.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 220.4° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 68.6° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 147.0° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♄︎ Saturn — 83.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon 72% 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, 72% lit; the Moon was 404,857 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
82.8 orbits of the Sun — 77,818 million km, that is 101,220 return trips to the Moon; 30,244 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 601 billion km around the Galactic centre, 23.2 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 86 million km away; today it is 243 million km (farther by 2.8×).
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 August 6, 2028; Jupiter — in 2026; 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 4,140″ 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.