The sky on May 18, 1948 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Taurus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 57.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Taurus
- ☽︎ Moon — 179.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 77.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♀︎ Venus — 96.9° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♂︎ Mars — 149.8° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 267.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 136.6° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ☽︎ Moon 77% 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, 77% lit; the Moon was 371,780 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
78.4 orbits of the Sun — 73,663 million km, that is 95,816 return trips to the Moon; 28,629 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 568.9 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 187 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 17, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031.
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.