The sky on January 17, 1948 — 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 — 296.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 3.7° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ☿︎ Mercury — 305.2° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 329.3° · sign Aquarius · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 157.1° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 258.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 141.0° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 31% 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, 31% lit; the Moon was 398,640 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
78.7 orbits of the Sun — 73,977 million km, that is 96,224 return trips to the Moon; 28,751 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 571.3 billion km around the Galactic centre, 22.1 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 117 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 2.1×).
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 January 15, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; 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 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.