The sky on May 16, 1948 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 55.5° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 151.6° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 73.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 95.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 149.1° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 267.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 136.5° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon 55% 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]
first quarter, 55% lit; the Moon was 369,907 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
78.4 orbits of the Sun — 73,669 million km, that is 95,823 return trips to the Moon; 28,631 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 569 billion km around the Galactic centre, 22 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 184 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther 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 May 15, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — May 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 3,924″ 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.