The sky on September 17, 1947 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 173.7° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 208.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 189.2° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 177.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 111.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 233.2° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♄︎ Saturn — 137.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 9% 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, 9% lit; the Moon was 379,853 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
79.1 orbits of the Sun — 74,293 million km, that is 96,635 return trips to the Moon; 28,874 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 573.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 22.2 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 259 million km away; today it is 243 million km (closer by 1.1×).
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 2, 2028; Jupiter — in 2030; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2054
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,960″ 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.