The sky on January 17, 1949 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 23.1° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 297.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 152.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☿︎ Mercury — 315.8° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 275.2° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 310.0° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 284.2° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 155.3° · 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 363,245 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
77.7 orbits of the Sun — 73,035 million km, that is 94,999 return trips to the Moon; 28,385 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 564.1 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 348 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 January 16, 2028; Jupiter — in 2032; a full moon exactly on this date — January 17, 2041
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,888″ 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.