13 Zodiac Signs: Find Your Sign with Ophiuchus

Thirteen constellations on the Sun's path

Over a year the Sun traces a circle through the sky called the ecliptic, and the stars behind it belong to thirteen constellations. Twelve gave their names to the zodiac signs; the thirteenth is Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, whose feet reach down to the ecliptic between Scorpius and Sagittarius. The International Astronomical Union fixed the borders of all 88 constellations in 1930, and on the ecliptic they are very uneven: the Sun crosses Scorpius in under a week but takes about 45 days over Virgo. The table below gives this year's dates for all thirteen.

Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer

Ophiuchus is an old constellation: Ptolemy listed it among his 48 in the 2nd century. It shows a man holding a great serpent, the constellation Serpens, and Greek myth identified him with Asclepius, the healer. The Sun passes through its southern part, the legs, from about November 29 to December 17 or 18. Western and Vedic astrology give it no sign or meaning of their own; 13-sign astrology, which follows the constellations, associates it with healing, knowledge and a search for truth.

Three zodiacs, three answers

Western (tropical) astrology measures twelve equal signs of 30° from the March equinox, so the signs stay in step with the seasons. This is your usual sign, the one in horoscopes.
Vedic (sidereal) astrology uses twelve equal signs too, but fixes them to the stars. Its signs now sit about 24° back from the tropical ones, so most people's Vedic Sun sign is the one before their Western sign.
The constellations are what the Sun actually stands in front of: thirteen of them, of unequal size. This is the answer the calculator gives first.

The calculator shows all three for your birthday, and with a birth time the constellation of the Moon and every planet as well.

Why the dates keep shifting

The Earth's axis wobbles slowly, like a spinning top, and takes about 26,000 years to go round once. As it does, the equinoxes slide backward along the ecliptic by about 1° every 72 years (the precession of the equinoxes). The tropical signs move with the equinox; the constellations don't. That is why the March equinox, which gave Aries its place at the start of the zodiac, now falls in the constellation Pisces, and why each constellation's dates on the calendar move about a day later every 72 years.

The Sun's 13 constellations in 2026

When the Sun stands in front of each constellation of its path, in US Eastern time, beside the dates of the sign with the same name. The dates move by a day from year to year and, very slowly, later with precession.

Constellation	Sun in it	Days	The sign of that name
Capricornus	Jan 19 – Feb 16	27	Capricorn: Dec 21 – Jan 20
Aquarius	Feb 16 – Mar 12	24	Aquarius: Jan 19 – Feb 18
Pisces	Mar 12 – Apr 18	38	Pisces: Feb 18 – Mar 20
Aries	Apr 18 – May 14	25	Aries: Mar 20 – Apr 19
Taurus	May 14 – Jun 21	38	Taurus: Apr 19 – May 20
Gemini	Jun 21 – Jul 20	29	Gemini: May 20 – Jun 21
Cancer	Jul 20 – Aug 10	21	Cancer: Jun 21 – Jul 22
Leo	Aug 10 – Sep 16	37	Leo: Jul 22 – Aug 22
Virgo	Sep 16 – Oct 31	45	Virgo: Aug 22 – Sep 22
Libra	Oct 31 – Nov 23	23	Libra: Sep 22 – Oct 23
Scorpius	Nov 23 – Nov 30	7	Scorpio: Oct 23 – Nov 22
Ophiuchus	Nov 30 – Dec 18	18	none
Sagittarius	Dec 18 – Jan 20	33	Sagittarius: Nov 22 – Dec 21

Questions

What are the 13 zodiac signs?

The twelve familiar ones plus Ophiuchus: the constellations the Sun passes in front of during a year. In order they are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius and Pisces. Their borders were fixed by astronomers in 1930, and they are far from equal: the Sun spends about 45 days in Virgo and less than a week in Scorpius.

What are Ophiuchus's dates?

The Sun enters Ophiuchus on November 29 or 30 and leaves it on December 17 or 18, depending on the year, about 18 days (US Eastern time). In 2026 the dates are November 30 to December 18.

Is Ophiuchus a real zodiac sign?

It is a real constellation on the Sun's path, but not a sign in Western or Vedic astrology. Both divide the zodiac into twelve equal signs of 30°, the Western one tied to the seasons and the Vedic one to the stars, and neither includes Ophiuchus. Only 13-sign astrology, which follows the constellations themselves, gives it a place.

Did NASA change the zodiac?

No. In 2016 a NASA page for students explained that the Sun passes through thirteen constellations, and it was widely reported as a new zodiac. The astronomy was not new, and the twelve signs of Western astrology were never meant to match the constellations: they are measured from the March equinox.

Why don't the dates match my horoscope?

Your usual sign comes from the tropical zodiac, which starts at the March equinox and follows the seasons. The equinox slowly slides backward against the stars, about 1° every 72 years, so after two thousand years the signs sit almost a whole sign (about 24°) away from the constellations they are named after.