The night sky on the night of D-Day — 6 June 1944
In the first minutes of 6 June 1944, British glider troops landed beside the Caen Canal bridge at Bénouville — later renamed Pegasus Bridge — and captured it within minutes. Through the night thousands of paratroopers dropped across Normandy, and at dawn Allied forces landed on five beaches in the largest seaborne invasion in history.
The sky over Pegasus Bridge, Bénouville, Normandy, France
This is the real sky above Pegasus Bridge, Bénouville, Normandy, France (49.24°N, 0.27°W) on 6 June 1944 at 00:16 British Double Summer Time (UTC+2) — the glider landings at Pegasus Bridge (1944-06-05 22:16 UTC). The Sun was 15° below the horizon: twilight was fading and the stars were coming out. The Moon (waxing gibbous, 99% lit) was 22° up in the south. Planets above the horizon: Jupiter (16° in the west) and Mars (11° in the west). Brightest named stars up: Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Altair and Spica.
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