Your sun sign
in both zodiacs
Western tropical and Vedic sidereal, side by side. They disagree by about three weeks, and almost every site shows you only one of them.
Example22 November 1988pick your own date
The two disagree here — Western says Sagittarius, Vedic says Scorpio. That is the ayanamsa, not an error in either.
What the sign means
and what it is lucky withSagittarius is represented by the archer — a mythological centaur who launches arrows across the sky. Sagittarians are always on a quest for knowledge, launching their arrows into the world and chasing after them wherever they land.
Those are sun-sign pairings, which is the most basic thing astrology says about two people. Each link scores the pair on four Ashtakoot kootas instead.
You have three signs, not one
and a date gives one of themA date fixes where the Sun was. It cannot give you the other two, and in Indian astrology the one people mean by “your rashi” is the second.
Where the Sun was on your birth date. It is read for the broad shape of a person: will, vitality, and the self you show. It is the only one of the three a date on its own can give you, which is why every site asks for a date and calls the answer your sign.
In Jyotish the rashi normally means the MOON sign, not the Sun. Asked for your sign, a jyotishi gives you this one. The Moon moves through a rashi in about two and a half days, so a date narrows it to two or three and only a birth time settles it.
Moon sign calculatorThe rashi rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It changes about every two hours, so a wrong birth time gets this one wrong outright. The whole house structure of a chart is built from it.
Ascendant calculatorThe whole table
yours is highlighted| Sign | Western dates | Vedic dates | Element | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Mar 21 - Apr 19 | Apr 14 - May 14 | Fire | Mars |
| Taurus | Apr 20 - May 20 | May 15 - Jun 14 | Earth | Venus |
| Gemini | May 21 - Jun 20 | Jun 15 - Jul 16 | Air | Mercury |
| Cancer | Jun 21 - Jul 22 | Jul 17 - Aug 16 | Water | Moon |
| Leo | Jul 23 - Aug 22 | Aug 17 - Sep 16 | Fire | Sun |
| Virgo | Aug 23 - Sep 22 | Sep 17 - Oct 16 | Earth | Mercury |
| Libra | Sep 23 - Oct 22 | Oct 17 - Nov 15 | Air | Venus |
| Scorpio | Oct 23 - Nov 21 | Nov 16 - Dec 15 | Water | Mars/Pluto |
| Sagittarius | Nov 22 - Dec 21 | Dec 16 - Jan 13 | Fire | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | Dec 22 - Jan 19 | Jan 14 - Feb 12 | Earth | Saturn |
| Aquarius | Jan 20 - Feb 18 | Feb 13 - Mar 14 | Air | Saturn/Uranus |
| Pisces | Feb 19 - Mar 20 | Mar 15 - Apr 13 | Water | Jupiter/Neptune |
Worth knowing
facts you can checkThe gap is the ayanamsa, and it is about 24 degrees
Both systems divide the sky into twelve equal thirty-degree signs. They disagree about where zero is. Western astrology pins it to the spring equinox; Vedic pins it to the fixed stars. The equinox moves against the stars by about fifty seconds of arc a year. Over roughly 1,700 years, that adds up to the twenty-four degrees.
They agreed once, around the fourth century
The two zeros coincided somewhere near 285 AD, which is why the older Greek and Indian texts describe the same sky in the same words. Since then the gap has grown by a fiftieth of a degree every year, and it is still growing.
Which is why you are two signs
Almost everybody born in the last three weeks of a Western sign is the previous sign in Vedic. It is not that one site is broken and the other is right. They are answering two different questions about where the Sun was.
The Moon matters more in Jyotish anyway
Indian astrology reads the rashi from the Moon, not the Sun, and a jyotishi asked for your sign will give you your Moon sign. The Sun sign is a Western convention that Indian sites adopted because Western readers came looking for it.
In more detail
sun signSun Sign vs Moon Sign
While your Sun sign represents your outer personality and conscious self, your Moon sign reflects your inner emotional world, instincts, and subconscious patterns. In Vedic astrology, the Moon sign (Rashi) is considered more important than the Sun sign because it governs the mind and emotions. For a complete picture of your astrological profile, it is recommended to know both your Sun sign and Moon sign.
Others from one date
no birth time neededCommon questions
2 questionsWhat is a Sun Sign?
Your Sun sign, also known as your zodiac sign or star sign, is determined by the position of the Sun at the time of your birth. In Western astrology, the zodiac is divided into 12 signs, each spanning 30 degrees of the ecliptic. The Sun spends approximately one month in each sign as it moves through the zodiac over the course of a year. Your Sun sign represents your core identity, ego, and the essence of who you are at a fundamental level.
How is Your Sun Sign Determined?
Your Sun sign is based on your date of birth. The Sun enters each zodiac sign on approximately the same date each year, though the exact transition dates can shift by a day due to leap years and orbital variations. People born on the cusp (the boundary between two signs) may need to check the exact Sun position for their birth year. The 12 signs follow a fixed order: Aries (March 21 - April 19), Taurus (April 20 - May 20), Gemini (May 21 - June 20), Cancer (June 21 - July 22), Leo (July 23 - August 22), Virgo (August 23 - September 22), Libra (September 23 - October 22), Scorpio (October 23 - November 21), Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21), Capricorn (December 22 - January 19), Aquarius (January 20 - February 18), and Pisces (February 19 - March 20).
A date gives a sign. A minute gives a chart.
Your sun sign comes from the day. Your lagna moves a whole sign every two hours — free, and no sign-up.