The sky on September 21, 1948 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 178.4° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 32.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☿︎ Mercury — 204.1° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 133.4° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♂︎ Mars — 222.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 261.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 150.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 91% 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]
waning gibbous, 91% lit; the Moon was 398,168 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
78 orbits of the Sun — 73,336 million km, that is 95,390 return trips to the Moon; 28,502 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 566.4 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 308 million km away; today it is 246 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 20, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — September 20, 2040
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.