Aquarius Zodiac Sign

Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac. In the tropical zodiac the Sun is in Aquarius from about January 19 to February 18, US Eastern Time; the exact moment shifts every year, so the start date can move by a day. The Aquarius zodiac sign is Fixed Air, ruled by Uranus, with Saturn as its traditional ruler.

Aquarius at a glance

• Dates (usual): January 19 – February 18 (US Eastern Time)
• Symbol: The Water-bearer
• Glyph: ♒︎
• Element: Air
• Modality: Fixed
• Ruling planet: Uranus (modern); Saturn (traditional)
• Polarity: Positive / masculine (yang, active)
• Opposite sign: Leo

Born near the start or end of Aquarius? Check your Sun sign in your birth chart

Aquarius is the eleventh 30° slice of celestial longitude, starting at 300° from the Sun's position at the March equinox. A calendar year does not match the Sun's yearly cycle to the minute, and every leap day nudges the calendar back, so the Sun reaches 300° at a different clock time each winter. From 2020 through 2030 in Eastern Time, Aquarius starts on January 19 in six of those years and on January 20 in five. The end holds steady: February 18 is the last Aquarius day in all eleven years.

Entry moments from NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data:

For a birthday on January 19 or 20, or close to February 18, the time and place of birth decide, because the boundary degree counts as the start of the next sign and the Sun can only stand in one sign at a given moment.

Which calendar day a change falls on also depends on the time zone. The 2026 entry, 8:45 PM on January 19 in New York, was already 01:45 on January 20 in UTC. The 2027 one goes the other way: 2:30 AM Eastern on January 20 (07:30 UTC) is still January 19 in Pacific Time. People born on such days often call themselves "cusp" babies, yet the Sun was not split between Capricorn and Aquarius. Enter your birth time and city in the birth chart to check which sign the Sun was in.

The Aquarius sign of the zodiac is read through three ingredients: the Air element, the Fixed modality and its two rulers. A modality is a sign's place in its season: Capricorn opens Northern Hemisphere winter as a Cardinal sign, Aquarius holds the middle as Fixed, and Pisces closes it as Mutable. Air is one of the two elements that make up the positive, active signs. Astrologers link Aquarius with innovation, a humanitarian outlook and persistence. They tie the new and unconventional side to Uranus, the modern ruler, and the patient, structured side to Saturn, the traditional one.

The lists below are the tradition's picture, and astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method, so keep what fits and leave the rest.

Strengths in the tradition

• Original ideas (Air and Uranus): The Aquarius sign is associated with questioning the usual way of doing something, like proposing a way to split the household chores that nobody had tried.
• Staying power (Fixed and Saturn): Once a principle is chosen, astrologers describe a steady commitment to it, the volunteer who still shows up for the cleanup in year five.
• Care for the group (Uranus): Fairness and community, including people outside one's own circle, get real attention.

Challenges in the tradition

• Fixed opinions (Fixed Air): An idea that has been thought through can become hard to let go of, even when new facts arrive.
• Distance in close moments (Air and Saturn): Reasoning through a feeling may come across as detachment to a partner who wanted warmth first.
• Contrarian by reflex (Uranus): The urge to be independent can turn into saying no to a custom simply because everyone else follows it.

The symbol is the Water-bearer, and the name says the same thing: Aquarius is Latin for "water-bearer," and the Greek name is Hydrokhóos. The glyph is ♒︎. Despite the water in the picture, Aquarius belongs to Air, not to the Water signs.

To the Sumerians and Babylonians, the water carrier in this constellation was Enki, also called Ea. Greek storytellers saw Ganymede, a Phrygian youth and son of Tros, king of Troy. While Ganymede was tending his father's flocks on Mount Ida, Zeus noticed him, flew down as a large bird and took him up to the heavens, where he became cupbearer to the gods. Classical star maps add a detail: the stream pouring from Aquarius's pitcher runs into Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish, which swallows it.

The Aquarius zodiac sign is not the same as the constellation Aquarius it was named after. Greek astronomers counted the signs from the March equinox, and Ptolemy explained that the signs had to start from the equinoxes and solstices, not from the uneven star patterns. Precession, whose discovery is credited to Hipparchus around 130 BC, moves the equinox slowly against the stars. As a result, the tropical signs Western astrology uses drift away from the constellations, and from the sidereal zodiac that roughly follows them, at about 1.4° per century. Astrolivo's Aquarius is the tropical 30° slice from 300° to 330°.

In love, astrologers read Fixed Air as a mix of friendship and freedom. Attraction often starts with a shared cause or a long conversation that runs past midnight, and a lasting bond leaves each person room of their own. Once committed, the Fixed and Saturn sides are read as loyal and consistent. On compatibility, the tradition notes that Aquarius shares Air with Gemini and Libra and belongs to the same positive half of the zodiac as Aries, Leo and Sagittarius.

At work, the Saturn and Uranus pairing is read as a talent for looking at a system and asking how it could run better. Astrologers link the sign with team projects, research and work for a cause, where independent judgment counts. Rules kept only out of habit sit poorly with this picture.

"I'm an Aquarius" refers to the Sun sign. For most birthdays the date alone settles your Sun sign; around January 19–20 and February 18 you need the birth time and place, as covered under Aquarius dates. The Sun is still only one part of a chart.

Take an example chart with an Aquarius Sun, a Cancer Moon and Virgo on the Ascendant. An astrologer would weigh an idea-driven Fixed Air Sun against a Cardinal Water Moon and a Mutable Earth Ascendant, so the person may look careful and practical at first and show the unconventional streak later.

The Moon in Aquarius is a separate placement with its own page; the Moon's sign is read for emotional needs. The rising sign depends on the clock: without a birth time, Astrolivo calculates the chart for noon and hides the Ascendant and houses. With your date, time and city, the free birth chart shows the Sun, Moon and rising sign together, no sign-up required.

Instead of relying on a single noon position, the calculator checks for any sign changes across your entire local birth date. If the Sun, the Moon, or another planet changes sign during that local day, the result shows each possible sign for that day rather than guessing a single one.

Before Aquarius comes Capricorn, the Cardinal Earth sign whose ruler, Saturn, is also Aquarius's traditional one. After it comes Pisces, the Mutable Water sign of the Fish and the last in the cycle. Browse all zodiac signs to compare the twelve.

FAQ

When is Aquarius season? From about January 19 to February 18, US Eastern Time. In 2027 it begins on January 20; the table above gives the exact minute for 2025–2027.

Which planet rules Aquarius? Uranus in modern astrology, a rulership that dates from the 20th century. Classical astrology gives Aquarius to Saturn, which also rules Capricorn.

Is Aquarius an air or a water sign? Air. It is the Fixed member of the Air group; Gemini is the Mutable Air sign and Libra the Cardinal one.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team from the Wikipedia articles on Aquarius (astrology), astrological signs, planets in astrology, the zodiac, and astrology and science, plus NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data for the start times, and fact-checked against those sources. Meanings are given as the astrological tradition reads them.