The sky on January 20, 1955 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Capricornus — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 299.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon — 259.3° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 315.6° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ♀︎ Venus — 252.9° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 3.8° · sign Aries · constellation Pisces
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 114.3° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 229.9° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☽︎ Moon 12% 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, 12% lit; the Moon was 401,763 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
71.7 orbits of the Sun — 67,390 million km, that is 87,656 return trips to the Moon; 26,191 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 520.5 billion km around the Galactic centre, 20.1 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 237 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 1×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 19, right at the minimum (8% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on May 28, 2028; Jupiter — in 2038; a full moon exactly on this date — January 19, 2030
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 3,600″ 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.