The sky on December 18, 2025 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Sagittarius — sign and constellation agree here.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 266.8° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Sagittarius
- ☽︎ Moon — 249.6° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Scorpius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 248.7° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♀︎ Venus — 262.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ♂︎ Mars — 272.4° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 113.0° · sign Cancer · constellation Gemini
- ♄︎ Saturn — 355.5° · sign Pisces · constellation Aquarius
- ☽︎ Moon 2% 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]
new moon, 2% lit; the Moon was 405,711 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
0.8 orbits of the Sun — 751 million km, that is 977 return trips to the Moon; 292 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 5.8 billion km around the Galactic centre, 0.2 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 362 million km away; today it is 243 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, near maximum (58% through the cycle).
SILSO smoothed minima - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on November 5, 2027; Jupiter — in 2037; 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 36″ 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/ap251218.html
NASA APOD
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