There are 12 zodiac signs, and each one belongs to one of four elements: fire, earth, air or water. Your sign is set by where the Sun sat on its yearly path when you were born, a scheme that goes back to Babylonian astronomers around 500 BCE.
Below are all twelve in 2026, grouped by element, with their dates, modality, ruling planet and the traits astrologers attach to them. Each sign also gets a real photograph of its constellation, so you can see the stars your sign is named after, and why the sky no longer lines up with the calendar.
All 12 Zodiac Signs With Dates, Symbols and Brightest Stars
The table runs in zodiac order from Aries, which starts at the March equinox. Sign boundaries can shift by a day from year to year, which is why Cancer sometimes starts on June 22 and Libra sometimes ends on October 23.
| # | Sign | Dates | Symbol | Element | Modality | Brightest star |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aries | March 21 to April 19 | Ram | Fire | Cardinal | Hamal |
| 2 | Taurus | April 20 to May 20 | Bull | Earth | Fixed | Aldebaran |
| 3 | Gemini | May 21 to June 20 | Twins | Air | Mutable | Pollux |
| 4 | Cancer | June 21 to July 22 | Crab | Water | Cardinal | Altarf |
| 5 | Leo | July 23 to August 22 | Lion | Fire | Fixed | Regulus |
| 6 | Virgo | August 23 to September 22 | Maiden | Earth | Mutable | Spica |
| 7 | Libra | September 23 to October 22 | Scales | Air | Cardinal | Zubenelgenubi |
| 8 | Scorpio | October 23 to November 21 | Scorpion | Water | Fixed | Antares |
| 9 | Sagittarius | November 22 to December 21 | Archer | Fire | Mutable | Kaus Australis |
| 10 | Capricorn | December 22 to January 19 | Sea goat | Earth | Cardinal | Deneb Algedi |
| 11 | Aquarius | January 20 to February 18 | Water bearer | Air | Fixed | Sadalsuud |
| 12 | Pisces | February 19 to March 20 | Two fish | Water | Mutable | Alpherg |
The traits in the sections below are astrological tradition. Elements and modalities are how astrologers group signs; the star facts come from astronomy.
Fire Zodiac Signs: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius
Astrologers associate the fire signs with passion, creativity and a competitive drive. One falls in each season of the year, in cardinal, fixed and mutable form.
1. Aries: March 21 to April 19
Symbol: Ram | Modality: Cardinal | Ruler: Mars | Brightest star: Hamal
The first sign begins at the March equinox and is cast as the starter of the zodiac: eager, competitive, quick to act. Its cardinal modality fits that reputation, since cardinal signs open each season.
In the photo, Aries is a short line of stars between Taurus and Pisces. Its lead star Hamal is 66 light-years away. The Babylonians drew a farmhand here before the figure became a ram, one of the 48 constellations Ptolemy cataloged in the 2nd century.
5. Leo: July 23 to August 22
Symbol: Lion | Modality: Fixed | Ruler: Sun | Brightest star: Regulus
Leo is the fixed fire sign and the one sign astrology assigns to the Sun itself. The traits that follow are confident, dramatic and generous, with a domineering streak.
Unlike faint Cancer next door, Leo looks like its name. The Sickle, a backward question mark of stars, outlines the lion’s head, and Regulus, at magnitude 1.34, sits at its base. Behind it lies the Leo Triplet, three galaxies about 35 million light-years away.
9. Sagittarius: November 22 to December 21
Symbol: Archer | Modality: Mutable | Ruler: Jupiter | Brightest star: Kaus Australis
The mutable fire sign closes autumn and is tied to travel, learning and Jupiter’s expansiveness. Astrologers call it optimistic, funny and outgoing, and blunt to the point of tactless.
The photo shows why stargazers love this region: Sagittarius sits against the brightest part of the Milky Way, packed with the Lagoon, Trifid and Omega nebulae. Babylon saw a winged god called Pabilsag here; the Greeks turned him into a centaur archer.
Earth Zodiac Signs: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn
The earth signs are linked with practicality, patience and attention to material things. Astrology treats earth and water as the six “feminine” signs, and fire and air as the six “masculine” ones.
2. Taurus: April 20 to May 20
Symbol: Bull | Modality: Fixed | Ruler: Venus | Brightest star: Aldebaran
Taurus is the fixed earth sign, ruled by Venus and linked to money, comfort and the senses. Astrologers praise its reliability and warn about its stubbornness.
Orange Aldebaran, the bull’s eye, stands out in the photo, with the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, close by. Taurus is one of the oldest figures in the sky: in ancient Sumer it was the Bull of Heaven from the Epic of Gilgamesh.
6. Virgo: August 23 to September 22
Symbol: Maiden | Modality: Mutable | Ruler: Mercury | Brightest star: Spica
Virgo is the mutable earth sign, ruled by Mercury and associated with work, health and routine. Its traditional traits are practical, analytical and hardworking, and sometimes critical.
Spica, the bright star in the photo, means ear of grain in Latin, a remnant of Mesopotamia’s “Furrow” constellation. Virgo also holds the galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, and the Sun lingers in front of it for about 45 days, longer than any other zodiac constellation.
10. Capricorn: December 22 to January 19
Symbol: Sea goat | Modality: Cardinal | Ruler: Saturn | Brightest star: Deneb Algedi
Capricorn is the cardinal earth sign that begins at the December solstice, ruled by Saturn and tied to career and status. Its stock traits are disciplined, serious and tenacious.
The constellation is a faint triangle, with only Deneb Algedi brighter than third magnitude. It is drawn as a sea goat and sits in a part of the sky astronomers once called The Sea, alongside Aquarius and Pisces.
Air Zodiac Signs: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
The air signs are the communicators of the zodiac in astrological tradition, associated with ideas, conversation and social life.
3. Gemini: May 21 to June 20
Symbol: Twins | Modality: Mutable | Ruler: Mercury | Brightest star: Pollux
Gemini is the mutable air sign, ruled by Mercury and linked to talk, siblings and short trips. Its traits run from curious and versatile to inconsistent.
Two stars of nearly equal brightness, Castor and Pollux, are the twins’ heads. They are not true twins: Pollux is a single orange giant 34 light-years away, while Castor is a double star 52 light-years out. Babylon knew them as the warriors Lugalirra and Meslamta’ea.
7. Libra: September 23 to October 22
Symbol: Scales | Modality: Cardinal | Ruler: Venus | Brightest star: Zubenelgenubi
Libra is the cardinal air sign that opens autumn, ruled by Venus and associated with partnership and fairness. Astrologers describe it as diplomatic and gracious, and often indecisive.
In the sky, Libra is a modest group between Virgo and Scorpius with no star brighter than second magnitude. The Balance is one of the Babylonian signs that has survived in the same form for more than two millennia.
11. Aquarius: January 20 to February 18
Symbol: Water bearer | Modality: Fixed | Ruler: Saturn (modern: Uranus) | Brightest star: Sadalsuud
Aquarius is the fixed air sign, ruled by Saturn in tradition and Uranus in modern astrology. It is cast as original, independent and a little detached.
Despite its fame, Aquarius is hard to pick out: its two brightest stars, Sadalsuud and Sadalmelik, sit at magnitudes 2.91 and 2.94. It appears in the earliest Babylonian star catalogues, long before Ptolemy listed it.
Water Zodiac Signs: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
The water signs are tied to emotion, intuition and empathy. Each also has a notable constellation story, from the faintest zodiac figure to the one the Sun barely touches.
4. Cancer: June 21 to July 22
Symbol: Crab | Modality: Cardinal | Ruler: Moon | Brightest star: Altarf
Cancer is the cardinal water sign that starts at the June solstice, ruled by the Moon and tied to home and family. Its traits are protective, intuitive and sentimental, with a reputation for moodiness.
It is the dimmest zodiac constellation, topping out at magnitude 3.76, and the Sun crosses it in only about 20 days. The fuzzy patch at its center in the photo is the Beehive Cluster, around 600 light-years away.
8. Scorpio: October 23 to November 21
Symbol: Scorpion | Modality: Fixed | Ruler: Mars (modern: Pluto) | Brightest star: Antares
Scorpio is the fixed water sign, ruled by Mars and, for modern astrologers, Pluto. Its traits are intense ones: passionate, resourceful, brave and sometimes jealous.
The photo shows red Antares, the “heart of the scorpion,” at the scorpion’s heart, with the tail curling down into the Milky Way. Note Ophiuchus labeled just above it. The Sun spends only seven days in Scorpius before crossing into Ophiuchus.
12. Pisces: February 19 to March 20
Symbol: Two fish | Modality: Mutable | Ruler: Jupiter (modern: Neptune) | Brightest star: Alpherg
Pisces is the mutable water sign that ends the zodiac, ruled by Jupiter and, in modern astrology, Neptune. Astrologers describe it as empathetic and artistic, with an escapist side.
Pisces is a faint figure below the Great Square of Pegasus. Its star Alrescha marks the knot in the cord tying the two fish together. Babylon called this region The Swallow, after the birds that returned in spring.
Why Your Zodiac Sign No Longer Matches the Stars
When the signs were laid out, the Sun really did pass through each constellation during its listed dates. Earth’s axis wobbles slowly, though, in a cycle of about 26,000 years, and that drift has moved the stars by almost a month. Today the Sun is in front of the constellation Aries from about April 19 to May 14, not March 21 to April 19.
The constellations are also uneven. Under the boundaries the International Astronomical Union set between 1925 and 1930, the Sun spends about 44 days crossing Virgo but only 7 crossing Scorpius. Western astrology ignores both effects by design: its signs are equal 30-degree slices tied to the equinoxes and solstices, not to the stars.
Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer
A thirteenth constellation sits on the Sun’s path. The Sun crosses Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, from about November 30 to December 18 each year, between Scorpius and Sagittarius. The figure represents Asclepius, the healer of Greek myth, and its brightest star is Rasalhague.
NASA addressed it in 2016 after a post went viral: the agency said it had not changed any signs and had just done the math. The Babylonians, NASA explained, knew of 13 constellations on the path and dropped one to fit a 12-month calendar. Astrologers who use the tropical zodiac do not count Ophiuchus as a sign.
Tropical and Sidereal Zodiac Signs
The signs in this guide are tropical, the system Western astrology uses, which keeps Aries tied to the spring equinox. Vedic astrology in India uses the sidereal zodiac, which follows the stars and subtracts a correction for precession that is now about 24 degrees.
That correction pushes most birthdays back by one sign. A person born in early March is a Pisces in Western astrology but an Aquarius in sidereal reckoning, since sidereal Aquarius runs from about February 13 to March 12.
How Many People Believe in Zodiac Signs?
More than many expect. A Pew Research Center survey of 9,593 U.S. adults, published in May 2025, found:
- 27 percent believe in astrology, down from 29 percent in 2017.
- 28 percent consult astrology or a horoscope at least once a year.
- 35 percent of women believe in astrology, compared with 18 percent of men.
- Among women aged 18 to 49, the figure is 43 percent.
- Only 1 percent say they rely on these practices a lot when making major decisions.
Belief is not evidence, and the scientific verdict has not changed. In a 1985 double-blind test in Nature, astrologers matched birth charts to personality profiles no better than chance, and NASA’s Space Place notes that astrology’s claims are not based on scientific evidence. No correlation has been found between birth dates and personality.
Western Zodiac Signs vs. the Chinese Zodiac
The Chinese zodiac is a separate system that uses years, not months. Each of 12 animals stands for a year in a repeating cycle: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. 2026 is the Year of the Horse, and the animal changes at Chinese New Year, which falls between January 21 and February 20.
The animals are also paired with five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), a different set from the Western four. Variants exist too: Vietnam swaps in a cat for the rabbit, and Japan uses a boar for the pig.
Born on the Cusp? How to Pin Down Your Sign
If your birthday is the first or last day of a sign, your sign depends on the exact minute the Sun moved into the next slice in your birth year. Astrologers who work with the tropical zodiac describe the “cusp” as a line, not a blend of two signs. To check yours:
- Find your birth time on your birth certificate.
- Look up the moment the Sun entered the next sign in your birth year and your time zone.
- If you were born before that moment, you are the earlier sign.
A sign makes a fun icebreaker, and it pairs well with other personal frameworks such as the five love languages. For a birthday card, our list of birthday wishes and messages has lines you can adapt for any sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four zodiac elements?
Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius), earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn), air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) and water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces). Astrology borrowed the four from Aristotle’s elements.
Which zodiac sign comes first?
Aries. The tropical zodiac begins with the Sun at the March equinox, so Aries starts around March 21 and Pisces closes the cycle around March 20.
Did NASA add a 13th zodiac sign?
No. NASA said in 2016 that it had not changed any zodiac signs. It pointed out that the Sun crosses a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus, which the Babylonians left out.
What zodiac sign is December 20?
Sagittarius, which runs from November 22 to December 21. Astronomically, though, the Sun is in front of the constellation Sagittarius only from December 18.
