The sky on September 17, 1949 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Virgo — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 174.3° · sign Virgo · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon — 107.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ☿︎ Mercury — 198.4° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♀︎ Venus — 213.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 126.4° · sign Leo · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 292.3° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♄︎ Saturn — 161.5° · sign Virgo · constellation Leo
- ☽︎ Moon 31% 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, 31% lit; the Moon was 381,658 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
77.1 orbits of the Sun — 72,412 million km, that is 94,188 return trips to the Moon; 28,143 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 559.3 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 312 million km away; today it is 243 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 October 29, 2026; Jupiter — in 2032; a full moon exactly on this date — September 17, 2054
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.