How Does One Day Represent One Year?
Secondary progression starts with the actual moment of birth. For each year of elapsed life, the astrologer advances the astronomical calculation by roughly one day. A person who has lived 25 years is assigned a progressed ephemeris moment approximately 25 days after birth. A person who has lived 40 years is assigned a moment approximately 40 days after birth.
Fractional ages matter. At 25.5 years, the progressed ephemeris moment is about 25.5 days after birth. That extra half-day can move the lunar longitude by several degrees, making the exact target date useful when discussing a sign transition.
The Progressed Moon Sign Calculator measures elapsed time between the birth moment and the selected date, converts it to tropical-year units, and advances the birth ephemeris by that number of days. This is a particular calculation convention; other progression software may make slightly different timing choices.