The sky on December 18, 1948 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 266.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 114.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 269.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 237.7° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♂︎ Mars — 286.6° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 277.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 156.2° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 94% 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, 94% lit; the Moon was 370,844 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
77.8 orbits of the Sun — 73,113 million km, that is 95,101 return trips to the Moon; 28,416 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 564.7 billion km around the Galactic centre, 21.8 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 342 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.4×).
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 December 17, 2027; Jupiter — in 2031; a full moon exactly on this date — December 17, 2051
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,888″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23.2° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.