The sky on December 18, 1953 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 266.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 60.3° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 251.4° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 256.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 208.8° · sign Libra · constellation Virgo
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 80.7° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 216.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ☽︎ Moon 95% 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]
waxing gibbous, 95% lit; the Moon was 369,756 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
72.8 orbits of the Sun — 68,416 million km, that is 88,991 return trips to the Moon; 26,590 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 528.4 billion km around the Galactic centre, 20.4 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 293 million km away; today it is 243 million km (closer by 1.2×).
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 April 26, 2027; Jupiter — in 2036; 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 3,636″ 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.