The sky on January 7, 2024 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius, while the horoscope says "Capricorn". The gap is 24.2° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 286.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 235.0° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ☿︎ Mercury — 264.1° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 250.5° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 272.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 35.7° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 333.8° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 19% 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, 19% lit; the Moon was 385,085 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
2.7 orbits of the Sun — 2,579 million km, that is 3,354 return trips to the Moon; 1,002 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 19.9 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.8 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 360 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 25, on the rise to maximum (39% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on October 12, 2027; Jupiter — in 2036.
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 108″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 24.2° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr - Picture of the day [EXACT]
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for this date: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240107.html
NASA APOD
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