The sky on September 16, 1948 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 173.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 332.7° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 198.2° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 128.1° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♂︎ Mars — 218.6° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 260.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 149.7° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 97% 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]
full moon, 97% lit; the Moon was 406,189 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
78.1 orbits of the Sun — 73,353 million km, that is 95,412 return trips to the Moon; 28,509 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 566.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 21.9 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 305 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer 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 September 15, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — September 15, 2027
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.