The twelve zodiac signs and their dates
The twelve zodiac signs split the Sun’s yearly path into equal 30° parts, and the Sun spends about a month in each. The dates below are the ones that held in most years from 1930 to 2030. The column on the right shows every day a sign actually began on in that time.
| Sign | Usual dates | Has started on | Element | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Mar 20 to Apr 19 | Mar 20 or 21 | Fire | Mars |
| Taurus | Apr 20 to May 20 | Apr 19 to 21 | Earth | Venus |
| Gemini | May 21 to Jun 20 | May 20 to 22 | Air | Mercury |
| Cancer | Jun 21 to Jul 22 | Jun 20 to 22 | Water | The Moon |
| Leo | Jul 23 to Aug 22 | Jul 22 or 23 | Fire | The Sun |
| Virgo | Aug 23 to Sep 22 | Aug 22 to 24 | Earth | Mercury |
| Libra | Sep 23 to Oct 22 | Sep 22 to 24 | Air | Venus |
| Scorpio | Oct 23 to Nov 21 | Oct 22 to 24 | Water | Mars |
| Sagittarius | Nov 22 to Dec 21 | Nov 21 to 23 | Fire | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | Dec 22 to Jan 19 | Dec 21 or 22 | Earth | Saturn |
| Aquarius | Jan 20 to Feb 18 | Jan 19 to 21 | Air | Saturn |
| Pisces | Feb 19 to Mar 19 | Feb 18 or 19 | Water | Jupiter |
Start days are in Universal Time. In the Americas a start shortly after midnight UTC falls on the evening before.
Zodiac signs by birth month
Every month holds the end of one sign and the start of the next. Each month page shows the day the sign changed in every year from 1930 to 2029, with the decans and tarot cards of that month.
Why zodiac dates move from year to year
A sign begins when the Sun reaches its first degree, and that moment slips about 5 hours 50 minutes later each year. The calendar year has 365 days while the Sun’s cycle takes 365.24, and the extra day in a leap year pulls the moment back by about 18 hours.
Many printed tables still start Aries on March 21. Between 2000 and 2049, though, the Sun enters Aries on March 20 in Universal Time in 46 of the 50 years. In 2024 it got there at 11:07 PM on March 19 in New York, a date that most tables hand to Pisces.
What does it mean to be born on the cusp?
Being born on the cusp means being born on or near the day the Sun changed signs. In astrology you still have a single Sun sign, decided by whether you arrived before or after the exact moment. Popular cusp names like the “cusp of power” for Aries and Taurus describe a mix of traits, but the chart itself places the Sun in one sign.
To settle it, enter your birth year in the form above. If the change happened on your birthday, you’ll see the exact time in your time zone. For births in another country, the birth chart calculator works from your birthplace and time.
Elements and modalities
Every sign belongs to one of four elements and one of three modalities, and no two signs share the same pair. Astrologers use them as a shorthand for temperament.
- Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) stands for drive, warmth and impatience.
- Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) brings practical sense and staying power.
- Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) runs on ideas, talk and connection.
- Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) works through feeling, memory and intuition.
Cardinal signs begin the seasons. The Sun enters Aries at the March equinox, Cancer at the June solstice, Libra at the September equinox and Capricorn at the December solstice. Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) sit in the middle of each season and mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) at its end, which is why they are read as steady and adaptable.
Is there a 13th zodiac sign?
Ophiuchus is a constellation the Sun passes in front of for about two and a half weeks between late November and mid-December, but it isn’t a sign in Western astrology. The signs are twelve equal slices of the year counted from the March equinox, a system called the tropical zodiac. They kept the names of the constellations that matched them about 2,000 years ago.
Since then the slow wobble of the Earth’s axis has moved the equinox about 24° against the stars, so the constellations no longer line up with the signs. When this went viral in 2016, NASA explained that it had not changed anyone’s sign and had only described the astronomy. Your sign and its dates stay the same.
Your Sun sign is one part of your chart
Your Sun sign comes from your birthday alone, which is why it is the sign everyone knows. A birth chart adds the Moon sign, which describes what you need emotionally, and the rising sign, which describes how you come across. The Moon sign calculator often works from the date alone, and the rising sign calculator needs your birth time. Your Chinese zodiac animal comes from the birth year instead, and the Chinese zodiac calculator finds it from your birth date.
Questions people ask
What zodiac sign am I if I was born on a cusp?
You are one sign, not a blend. The Sun entered the new sign at one exact moment, and being born before or after it decides your sign. Enter your birth year above to see that moment in your time zone.
Why do websites list different dates for the same sign?
Because the start dates move. The Sun enters each sign about six hours later every year and jumps back after a leap day, so one sign can begin on two or three different dates. Most tables pick one date and keep it for every year.
What are the 12 zodiac signs in order?
Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. The order follows the Sun’s path through the year, starting at the March equinox.
Did NASA change the zodiac signs?
No. In 2016 NASA explained that the constellations behind the Sun have shifted over thousands of years and that a thirteenth one, Ophiuchus, lies on the Sun’s path. Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which is tied to the seasons rather than to constellations, so the signs and their dates stay the same.
Is my zodiac sign different in Vedic astrology?
Often, yes. Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, which today sits about 24 degrees behind the tropical one. If your Sun is in the first 24 degrees of its Western sign, your Vedic Sun sign is the one before it.