Your sun sign is the zodiac sign the Sun was in on the day you were born. Your rising sign depends on the hour and the place: it is the sign that was climbing over the eastern horizon where you were born, at the minute you were born. One follows the calendar, the other follows the clock and the map.
How are the sun sign and rising sign different?
| Question | Sun sign | Rising sign |
|---|---|---|
| What it marks | The Sun's place in the zodiac | The zodiac point on the eastern horizon |
| What you need | Your birth date | Your birth date, time and place |
| How long one sign lasts | About a month | About two hours on average |
| Where you meet it | Horoscope columns | A full birth chart |
| Traditional reading | The self and its expression | Physical appearance |
The gap in speed comes from two different motions. On average the Sun moves a little less than 1 degree along the zodiac each day, so it spends about a month in each 30-degree sign. The rising sign moves with the Earth's daily turn instead. Away from the polar circles, that turn carries the whole zodiac past the eastern horizon in about a day, so each sign takes about two hours on average to rise.
The readings in the last row are tradition, not measurement. In astrology, the Sun is usually thought to represent "the conscious ego, the self and its expression". In the same tradition, the ascendant "signifies a person's physical appearance".
Which one is my horoscope sign?
Your sun sign. Sun sign astrology is a simplified form of Western astrology that looks only at the Sun's position at birth. It is the form most commonly found in newspaper and magazine horoscope columns, which began appearing in English newspapers in the 1930s.
That is why a birthday is enough to know your sun sign. A rising sign needs a chart worked out for your exact birth time and place.
Can your sun sign and rising sign be the same?
Yes, if you were born around sunrise. The ascendant is the sunrise point: when the Sun comes up, it sits on the eastern horizon, so the degree rising is at, or very close to, the Sun's own degree. As the morning goes on, the following signs rise while the Sun stays where it is.
| Local time | Rising sign | Sun sign |
|---|---|---|
| 05:44, sunrise | Taurus | Taurus |
| 06:44 | Gemini | Taurus |
| 08:44 | Cancer | Taurus |
| 11:44 | Leo | Taurus |
| 17:44 | Libra | Taurus |
In this sample, the two signs match only around sunrise. Near the edge of a sign, a sunrise birth can still give two neighbouring signs.
What this means for your day
For your day
Do
Use your birth time, not just your birthday, when you look up a rising sign.
Don't
Don't read a sun sign horoscope as a reading of your rising sign.
Questions people ask
Which is more important, the sun sign or the rising sign?
Astrology has no single ranking. In one traditional view, the ascendant is read as stronger when the Sun sits in a weak position in the chart.
Do I need my birth time for my sun sign?
Usually not. You do if you were born on a day the Sun changed sign, because those dates shift by a day or so from year to year.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Sun sign astrology. Only the Sun's position at birth; the form found in newspaper and magazine columns since the 1930s; sign dates that shift by a day or so.
- Wikipedia: Ascendant. The rising sign, its traditional link with physical appearance, and the view that it is stronger when the Sun is weak.
- Wikipedia: Horoscope. The ascendant as the sunrise point, changing sign roughly every two hours.
- Wikipedia: Ecliptic. On average, the Sun moves a little less than 1 degree a day along its yearly path.
- Wikipedia: Planets in astrology. The Sun's traditional meaning.