The sky on August 19, 1949 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Leo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 146.2° · sign Leo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon — 85.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 166.9° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ♀︎ Venus — 178.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 108.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 293.8° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 157.8° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 26% 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 crescent, 26% lit; the Moon was 386,954 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
77.1 orbits of the Sun — 72,485 million km, that is 94,283 return trips to the Moon; 28,171 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 559.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 21.6 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 333 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 August 17, 2028; Jupiter — in 2032; a full moon exactly on this date — August 19, 2035
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,852″ 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.