The Sky to October 2027: Visible Planets, Sun Signs and Retrogrades

The sky at a glance, November 2026 to October 2027

Retrogrades, planet by planet

Planet	Sign	Turns retrograde	Turns direct	Length
☿︎ Mercury	♏︎ Scorpio	Sat, Oct 24, 2026, 3:09 AM	Fri, Nov 13, 2026, 10:57 AM	20 days
☿︎ Mercury	♓︎ Pisces → Aquarius	Tue, Feb 9, 2027, 12:36 PM	Wed, Mar 3, 2027, 7:35 AM	22 days
☿︎ Mercury	♋︎ Cancer → Gemini	Thu, Jun 10, 2027, 2:16 PM	Sun, Jul 4, 2027, 3:38 PM	24 days
☿︎ Mercury	♏︎ Scorpio → Libra	Thu, Oct 7, 2027, 10:34 AM	Thu, Oct 28, 2027, 10:12 AM	21 days
♀︎ Venus	♏︎ Scorpio → Libra	Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 3:15 AM	Fri, Nov 13, 2026, 7:28 PM	42 days
♂︎ Mars	♍︎ Virgo → Leo	Sun, Jan 10, 2027, 7:59 AM	Thu, Apr 1, 2027, 10:09 AM	81 days
♃︎ Jupiter	♌︎ Leo	Sat, Dec 12, 2026, 7:55 PM	Mon, Apr 12, 2027, 10:12 PM	121 days
♄︎ Saturn	♈︎ Aries	Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 4:00 PM	Thu, Dec 10, 2026, 6:30 PM	137 days
♄︎ Saturn	♈︎ Aries	Mon, Aug 9, 2027, 2:08 PM	Thu, Dec 23, 2027, 9:45 PM	136 days

Times are Eastern Time (New York).

Which planets you can see, season by season

Season	Evening sky	All night	Morning sky
Fall Sun, Nov 1, 2026 → Sun, Dec 20, 2026	♄︎ Saturn	♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter, ♄︎ Saturn	♀︎ Venus, ♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter
Winter Mon, Dec 21, 2026 → Fri, Mar 19, 2027	♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter, ♄︎ Saturn	♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter	♀︎ Venus, ♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter
Spring Sat, Mar 20, 2027 → Sun, Jun 20, 2027	♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter	♂︎ Mars, ♃︎ Jupiter	none
Summer Mon, Jun 21, 2027 → Wed, Sep 22, 2027	♂︎ Mars	♄︎ Saturn	♄︎ Saturn
Fall Thu, Sep 23, 2027 → Sun, Oct 31, 2027	none	♄︎ Saturn	♃︎ Jupiter, ♄︎ Saturn

Sky dates, month by month

• Fri, Nov 13, 2026 ☿︎ Mercury turns direct in Scorpio
• Fri, Nov 13, 2026 ♀︎ Venus turns direct in Libra
• Sun, Nov 15, 2026 ✶︎ Mars and Jupiter meet in Leo (1.19° apart)
• Fri, Nov 20, 2026 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the morning sky
• Wed, Nov 25, 2026 ♂︎ Mars enters Virgo
• Thu, Dec 10, 2026 ♄︎ Saturn turns direct in Aries
• Sat, Dec 12, 2026 ♃︎ Jupiter turns retrograde in Leo
• Mon, Dec 21, 2026 ☉︎ December solstice, winter begins
• Sun, Jan 3, 2027 ♀︎ Venus at its best in the morning sky
• Sun, Jan 10, 2027 ♂︎ Mars turns retrograde in Virgo
• Wed, Feb 3, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the evening sky
• Sat, Feb 6, 2027 ☉︎ Annular solar eclipse in Aquarius, not visible from New York
• Tue, Feb 9, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns retrograde in Pisces
• Wed, Feb 10, 2027 ♃︎ Jupiter at opposition, visible all night
• Fri, Feb 19, 2027 ♂︎ Mars closest to Earth
• Fri, Feb 19, 2027 ♂︎ Mars at opposition, visible all night
• Sat, Feb 20, 2027 ☽︎ Penumbral lunar eclipse in Virgo, visible from New York
• Sun, Feb 21, 2027 ♂︎ Mars enters Leo
• Wed, Mar 3, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns direct in Aquarius
• Wed, Mar 17, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the morning sky
• Sat, Mar 20, 2027 ☉︎ March equinox, spring begins
• Thu, Apr 1, 2027 ♂︎ Mars turns direct in Leo
• Wed, Apr 7, 2027 ♄︎ Saturn behind the Sun, out of sight for a few weeks
• Mon, Apr 12, 2027 ♃︎ Jupiter turns direct in Leo
• Mon, Apr 19, 2027 ✶︎ Mercury and Saturn meet in Aries (0.56° apart)
• Fri, May 7, 2027 ✶︎ Venus and Saturn meet in Aries (0.61° apart)
• Fri, May 14, 2027 ♂︎ Mars enters Virgo
• Fri, May 28, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the evening sky
• Thu, Jun 10, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns retrograde in Cancer
• Mon, Jun 21, 2027 ☉︎ June solstice, summer begins
• Sun, Jul 4, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns direct in Gemini
• Thu, Jul 15, 2027 ♂︎ Mars enters Libra
• Thu, Jul 15, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the morning sky
• Sun, Jul 18, 2027 ☽︎ Penumbral lunar eclipse in Capricorn, not visible from New York
• Mon, Jul 26, 2027 ♃︎ Jupiter enters Virgo
• Mon, Aug 2, 2027 ☉︎ Total solar eclipse in Leo, not visible from New York
• Mon, Aug 9, 2027 ♄︎ Saturn turns retrograde in Aries
• Wed, Aug 11, 2027 ♀︎ Venus behind the Sun, out of sight for a few weeks
• Wed, Aug 11, 2027 ✶︎ Mercury and Venus meet in Leo (0.51° apart)
• Tue, Aug 17, 2027 ☽︎ Penumbral lunar eclipse in Aquarius, visible from New York
• Thu, Aug 19, 2027 ✶︎ Mercury and Jupiter meet in Virgo (0.62° apart)
• Wed, Aug 25, 2027 ✶︎ Venus and Jupiter meet in Virgo (0.49° apart)
• Tue, Aug 31, 2027 ♃︎ Jupiter behind the Sun, out of sight for a few weeks
• Wed, Sep 1, 2027 ♂︎ Mars enters Scorpio
• Thu, Sep 23, 2027 ☉︎ September equinox, fall begins
• Fri, Sep 24, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury at its best in the evening sky
• Thu, Oct 7, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns retrograde in Scorpio
• Fri, Oct 15, 2027 ♂︎ Mars enters Sagittarius
• Sun, Oct 17, 2027 ♄︎ Saturn at opposition, visible all night
• Thu, Oct 28, 2027 ☿︎ Mercury turns direct in Libra

Mercury is retrograde four times in the window this page covers: until November 13, 2026 (it turned on October 24), then February 9 to March 3, June 10 to July 4, and October 7 to 28, 2027. Venus ends its own retrograde on November 13, 2026, and Mars is retrograde from January 10 to April 1, 2027. If today falls inside one of the Mercury ranges, Mercury is retrograde right now.

Below: the planets you can see from the United States each season from November 2026 to October 2027, the nights worth marking and the Sun’s sign changes. Astronomy is computed for New York in Eastern Time; meanings are astrological tradition, labeled as such.

Is Mercury in retrograde, or is another planet?

A retrograde starts when a planet “stations retrograde” (it appears to stop, then drift backward against the stars) and ends when it “stations direct.” The three planets astrologers watch most:

Venus and Mercury both turn direct on November 13, 2026, a few hours apart. Neither Venus nor Mars turns retrograde again before the end of October 2027.

Jupiter is retrograde in Leo from December 12, 2026 to April 12, 2027; Saturn, in Aries all along, turns direct on December 10, 2026 and retrograde again on August 9, 2027.

Mercury’s retrogrades are short and frequent; Mars’s is rare and long, so the winter of 2027 belongs to Mars.

Which planets can you see, season by season?

Five planets show to the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The table gives, for New York, where each stands in the evening (45 minutes after sunset), in the middle of the night and before dawn (45 minutes before sunrise).

Venus, the brightest planet, leads the dawn until early March 2027, then vanishes into the Sun’s glare. Mars changes the most: modest in November, a vivid orange point by February.

Mornings carry the show in late 2026; evenings take over from mid-February 2027.

The nights to mark in your calendar

Opposition means the planet sits opposite the Sun: it rises at sunset, sets at sunrise, and shines at its best. The two solar eclipses of the window, on February 6 and August 2, 2027, can’t be seen from New York; NASA’s eclipse list gives the regions where they can (NASA Science, nofollow).

If you pick one week, take February 10 to 20, 2027: two oppositions and an eclipse.

When does the Sun change sign?

Your Sun sign is the sign the Sun occupied on your birthday. The dates shift slightly from year to year; here are the exact entries for the window:

Capricorn, Aries, Cancer and Libra each open a season.

Check the hour, not just the day, if your birthday falls on one of these dates.

What astrology reads in this sky

In astrological tradition, the sign a planet crosses colors its themes. Mars enters Virgo on November 25, 2026, slips back into Leo on February 21, 2027 while retrograde, and returns to Virgo on May 14; astrologers read that back-and-forth as a time to revisit how you spend your energy. Jupiter, associated with growth, enters Virgo on July 26, 2027. Saturn, linked to structure and patience, stays in Aries.

Retrograde weeks are traditionally read as a time to review and finish rather than start. Your daily reading, sign by sign, is on the horoscope today page.

Treat the sky as a calendar of themes, not a forecast.

Where the Moon fits in

The Moon crosses all twelve signs every month. Its phases and cycle are on the Moon hub, and every full moon through 2027, with times and names, is on the full moon page. Both lunar eclipses above fall on full moons, as every lunar eclipse does.

Look for the Moon near a bright planet: it’s the easiest way to find one.

Mercury retrograde, in detail

Mercury is the retrograde people ask about most, so it has its own page. Mercury retrograde gives the shadow weeks around each period, the signs each one touches and what tradition suggests doing. If a number keeps showing up while you watch the sky, the angel numbers guide reads it.

For Mercury’s shadow dates and practical tips, go to the dedicated page.

How were these dates computed?

Everything astronomical comes from PyEphem, an astronomical library, run on October 14, 2026: apparent geocentric positions, tropical zodiac, times in America/New_York (EST or EDT). A planet counts as visible when it stands at least 10° above the horizon from New York City; Mercury rarely clears that, so its “low” windows (above 5°) are given. Elsewhere the windows can shift. Eclipse dates and types match NASA’s catalog.

The dates are computed; the meanings are tradition.

Key takeaways

• Mercury is retrograde until Nov 13, 2026, then Feb 9 to Mar 3, Jun 10 to Jul 4 and Oct 7 to 28, 2027.
• Venus turns direct on Nov 13, 2026; Mars is retrograde from Jan 10 to Apr 1, 2027.
• Venus rules the dawn until early March 2027; Mars and Jupiter rule the evenings from February to summer.
• Jupiter reaches opposition on Feb 10, Mars on Feb 19 and Saturn on Oct 17, 2027.
• Sun sign dates shift slightly each year: use the table.

Prepared by Vivian. Computed on October 14, 2026, for New York (Eastern Time).

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