The sky on January 21, 2024 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Capricornus, while the horoscope says "Aquarius". The gap is 24.2° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 300.9° · sign Aquarius · constellation Capricornus
- ☽︎ Moon — 72.0° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ☿︎ Mercury — 278.9° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 267.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 282.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 36.4° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 335.3° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 83% 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, 83% lit; the Moon was 387,983 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
2.7 orbits of the Sun — 2,540 million km, that is 3,303 return trips to the Moon; 987 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 19.6 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 353 million km away; today it is 246 million km (closer by 1.4×).
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 26, 2027; Jupiter — in 2036; a full moon exactly on this date — January 21, 2038
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/ap240121.html
NASA APOD
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