Your zodiac sign, also called your star sign or sun sign, is decided by the date you were born. Each sign covers a roughly month-long stretch of the year, marking the section of the sky the Sun was passing through on your birthday. Below are all twelve signs and their dates, which sign each month belongs to, and why the boundary dates shift a little from year to year.
The 12 zodiac signs and their dates
Here are the twelve signs in order, with their dates, symbol, element, modality and ruling planet. The dates are the standard Western (tropical) dates that horoscopes use.
| Sign | Dates | Element | Modality | Ruling planet | Known for being |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries ♈ | 21 March to 19 April | Fire | Cardinal | Mars | bold, direct and quick to start things |
| Taurus ♉ | 20 April to 20 May | Earth | Fixed | Venus | steady, sensual and deeply loyal |
| Gemini ♊ | 21 May to 20 June | Air | Mutable | Mercury | curious, quick-witted and sociable |
| Cancer ♋ | 21 June to 22 July | Water | Cardinal | the Moon | nurturing, intuitive and home-loving |
| Leo ♌ | 23 July to 22 August | Fire | Fixed | the Sun | warm, generous and expressive |
| Virgo ♍ | 23 August to 22 September | Earth | Mutable | Mercury | precise, practical and helpful |
| Libra ♎ | 23 September to 22 October | Air | Cardinal | Venus | charming, fair-minded and seeking balance |
| Scorpio ♏ | 23 October to 21 November | Water | Fixed | Mars and Pluto | intense, private and magnetic |
| Sagittarius ♐ | 22 November to 21 December | Fire | Mutable | Jupiter | adventurous, candid and freedom-loving |
| Capricorn ♑ | 22 December to 19 January | Earth | Cardinal | Saturn | disciplined, ambitious and patient |
| Aquarius ♒ | 20 January to 18 February | Air | Fixed | Saturn and Uranus | original, independent and humane |
| Pisces ♓ | 19 February to 20 March | Water | Mutable | Jupiter and Neptune | dreamy, compassionate and imaginative |
The boundary dates can move by a day either way depending on the year, so if your birthday falls right on the edge between two signs, use the free sun sign calculator to be certain.
Zodiac signs by month
Every month is shared by two signs, because the Sun changes sign around the 19th to the 23rd. Here is which sign each month belongs to:
- January: Capricorn until about the 19th, then Aquarius from about the 20th.
- February: Aquarius until about the 18th, then Pisces from about the 19th.
- March: Pisces until about the 20th, then Aries from about the 21st.
- April: Aries until about the 19th, then Taurus from about the 20th.
- May: Taurus until about the 20th, then Gemini from about the 21st.
- June: Gemini until about the 20th, then Cancer from about the 21st.
- July: Cancer until about the 22nd, then Leo from about the 23rd.
- August: Leo until about the 22nd, then Virgo from about the 23rd.
- September: Virgo until about the 22nd, then Libra from about the 23rd.
- October: Libra until about the 22nd, then Scorpio from about the 23rd.
- November: Scorpio until about the 21st, then Sagittarius from about the 22nd.
- December: Sagittarius until about the 21st, then Capricorn from about the 22nd.
If you were born near the changeover day in any month, your exact sign depends on the year and even the time of day the Sun moved signs, which is why a calculator settles it.
Elements and modalities
The twelve signs are grouped two ways. The four elements describe their basic temperament: Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) are spirited and active; Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) are grounded and practical; Air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) are thinking and social; and Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) are feeling and intuitive. The three modalities describe how each sign moves through the year: Cardinal signs begin each season, Fixed signs hold its centre, and Mutable signs carry it into the next.
Born on the cusp?
If your birthday lands on the day the Sun changes sign, you may have heard yourself called ‘on the cusp’. In astrology, though, you are always one sign or the other; there is no blended cusp sign. Because the changeover happens at a precise moment, only your full birth date, and sometimes your birth time, can say for sure which side you fall on.
Why do the zodiac dates change slightly each year?
The Sun does not enter each sign at the same instant every year. Our calendar year is about a quarter of a day longer than a clean 365 days, which is why we have leap years, and that small drift means the Sun can cross into the next sign a day earlier or later than the year before. So a date that is Aries one year might be the tail end of Pisces the next. For most birthdays it makes no difference; only those right on a boundary need to check.
Why your sign and the night sky do not quite line up
You may have read that your zodiac sign is ‘wrong’ or thousands of years out of date. There is truth behind it. Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which is tied to the seasons and fixed to the spring equinox, not to the actual constellations. Because the Earth slowly wobbles on its axis over about 26,000 years, a process called precession, the constellations have drifted against the calendar since the signs were named. So the Sun is no longer in the constellation Aries on the astrological dates for Aries. Astrologers know this; the tropical signs are read as a seasonal framework rather than a literal map of the stars. The same is true of Ophiuchus, the so-called thirteenth sign: it is a real constellation the Sun passes through, but it has never been part of the twelve-sign zodiac that astrology uses. None of this changes your sign.
How to find your exact sun sign
For almost everyone, your birth date alone tells you your sign from the table above. If you were born on a cusp, enter your date in the free sun sign calculator for a definite answer. Your sun sign is only the start, though: your moon sign rules your emotional world and your rising sign shapes how you come across. Together they are your big three, and you can see all of them at once in your birth chart. To read each sign in depth, visit the twelve signs.
Frequently asked questions
Aries is 21 March to 19 April, Taurus 20 April to 20 May, Gemini 21 May to 20 June, Cancer 21 June to 22 July, Leo 23 July to 22 August, Virgo 23 August to 22 September, Libra 23 September to 22 October, Scorpio 23 October to 21 November, Sagittarius 22 November to 21 December, Capricorn 22 December to 19 January, Aquarius 20 January to 18 February and Pisces 19 February to 20 March.
Match your birth date to the dates above, or enter it in a free sun sign calculator. Your date alone is enough unless you were born on the day the Sun changed sign.
Because the Sun crosses into each sign a little earlier or later each year, the boundary dates shift by a day. Sites round them differently, so for a cusp birthday a calculator is the only reliable answer.
It means your birthday falls near the day the Sun changed sign. In astrology you are still one sign or the other, decided by the exact moment of the changeover, not a blend of two signs.
Each zodiac season lasts about a month and begins the moment the Sun enters that sign, around the 19th to the 23rd. Aries season opens the astrological year at the spring equinox, and Pisces season closes it.
No. Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, tied to the seasons rather than the constellations, so the twelve signs and their dates still stand. Ophiuchus is a real constellation but has never been one of the twelve zodiac signs.
There are twelve, from Aries to Pisces, one for each section of the Sun's yearly path.
