How the Sun sign differs from the Moon and rising sign
The Sun, the Moon and the rising sign are often called the big three, and each covers different ground.
The Sun describes direction: identity, purpose, what you aim at. The Moon sign describes emotional needs: how you react before you think and what makes you feel safe. The rising sign, or Ascendant, is the sign that was coming up over the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It describes manner: the way you meet the world and the first impression you make.
They also differ in how easy they are to find. The Sun changes sign about once a month, so the date nearly always settles it. The Moon changes sign about every two and a quarter days, so the birth time sometimes decides it. The rising sign changes many times in a single day and needs an accurate time and place of birth.
Two people with the same Sun sign can seem quite unalike because their Moon and rising signs differ. That is one reason a Sun-sign description fits some people closely and others only loosely; the guide Why don't I feel like my zodiac sign? goes through the other reasons. The big three calculator finds all three at once, and the rising sign calculator explains what the Ascendant needs to be reliable.
How to find your Sun sign
The date almost always decides it. The Sun moves through all twelve signs once a year, spending about a month in each, and it enters a new sign between the 18th and the 24th of every month.
The exact day shifts by a day or two from year to year. The calendar year and the Sun's yearly cycle do not line up exactly, and leap years pull them back into step, so the moment the Sun enters Aries can fall on March 20 in one year and March 21 in another. This is why lists of sign dates on different sites so often disagree by a day.
If you were born on the day the Sun changed sign, the date alone cannot tell you which sign you have, and your birth time decides. The place matters too. The change of sign happens at one moment for the whole world, and that moment falls at different local times, sometimes even on different dates, depending on the time zone. Natalore's free chart takes your date, time and place and calculates where the Sun actually stood.
The twelve Sun signs and their dates
The dates below are the earliest and latest days on which the Sun entered and left each sign between 1925 and 2025, in universal time. If your birthday falls on one of the border days, or right beside one, check it in the free chart.
- Sun in Aries, March 20–21 to April 19–21: the Sun's exaltation; an identity found by going first and meeting challenges head-on.
- Sun in Taurus, April 19–21 to May 20–22: builds slowly towards something lasting and tangible, and holds its course.
- Sun in Gemini, May 20–22 to June 20–22: a self made of curiosity and conversation, with more than one side to it.
- Sun in Cancer, June 20–22 to July 22–23: builds a home and a circle of its own, and protects them with quiet determination.
- Sun in Leo, July 22–23 to August 22–24: the Sun's own sign; wants to create and be seen, and gives warmth generously.
- Sun in Virgo, August 22–24 to September 22–24: finds purpose in being useful and in getting the details right.
- Sun in Libra, September 22–24 to October 22–24: the Sun's fall; comes into focus through partnership and a strong sense of fairness.
- Sun in Scorpio, October 22–24 to November 21–23: commits completely, goes deep, and keeps its own counsel.
- Sun in Sagittarius, November 21–23 to December 21–22: builds towards meaning and wider horizons, and needs room to roam.
- Sun in Capricorn, December 21–22 to January 19–21: works patiently towards mastery and standing, and takes on responsibility early.
- Sun in Aquarius, January 19–21 to February 18–19: the Sun's detriment; an identity rooted in independence and in the group it chooses.
- Sun in Pisces, February 18–19 to March 20–21: an imaginative, porous self that finds purpose in compassion.
Common misunderstandings
"I was born on the cusp, so I am a bit of both signs." There is no cusp sign. At any moment the Sun is in one sign or the other, and on the changeover day your birth time decides which. If you also recognise the neighbouring sign in yourself, look at the rest of your chart: Mercury and Venus always travel close to the Sun and are often in the sign next door, and a Moon or rising sign there would explain the resemblance as well.
"The constellations have moved, so my sign is wrong." Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which is measured from the March equinox, the moment the Sun enters Aries. It follows the seasons, not the star patterns that share the signs' names, and those have drifted over the centuries. A Sun in Aries always means the first month of northern spring.
"Some Sun signs are rare." Every sign holds between about 8.1% and 8.6% of people born from 1925 to 2025. The Earth moves a little faster in its orbit during the northern winter, when it is closest to the Sun, so the Sun spends slightly fewer days in Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius, and slightly more in Gemini, Cancer and Leo.