The sky on January 8, 2025 — 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 — 288.5° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 38.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☿︎ Mercury — 270.1° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♀︎ Venus — 335.6° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ♂︎ Mars — 119.2° · sign Cancer · constellation Cancer
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 72.5° · sign Gemini · constellation Taurus
- ♄︎ Saturn — 345.1° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 67% 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]
first quarter, 67% lit; the Moon was 370,226 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
1.7 orbits of the Sun — 1,634 million km, that is 2,126 return trips to the Moon; 635 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 12.6 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.5 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 96 million km away; today it is 244 million km (farther by 2.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - Solar cycle [ESTIMATE]
That day fell in solar cycle 25, near maximum (49% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on November 26, 2026; Jupiter — in 2037; a full moon exactly on this date — January 8, 2050
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 72″ 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/ap250108.html
NASA APOD
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