What zodiac sign is January?

The January sky

The month opens just after the December solstice, so the Sun is still in Capricorn. Earth is also at its closest point to the Sun around January 3, roughly 147 million km away. That surprises people in the northern hemisphere, because the coldest weeks come when the planet is nearest its star; distance matters far less than the tilt of the axis.

Around January 20 the Sun crosses into Aquarius, the water bearer, which is nevertheless an air sign. That mismatch confuses more people than any other detail in the zodiac. Elements are assigned by a sign's place in the wheel, not by its picture: Aquarius sits with Gemini and Libra in the air triplicity.

Born in January: what each sign means

The January birthstone is Garnet; see January birthstones.

The January cusp, and what it means for your birthday

The January handover is rarely clean, so a January 19 birthday is a Capricorn on the calendar but can be an Aquarius in a particular year.

A cusp birthday does not make a blend of the two signs. Traditional astrology gives each person one Sun sign, and what a cusp date really changes is which of the two descriptions fits worse. If one of them reads as a stranger, that is a reason to check the year and birth time.

Across 2000 to 2050 (51 years) the Sun entered Aquarius on these UTC dates: January 20 in 35, January 19 in 16. Counting clocks from UTC-12 to UTC+14 over 1800 to 2099, the change can reach any date from January 18 to 22.

Born near that moment? The sun sign calculator takes your year, time and time zone. For the Moon and rising sign too, use the birth chart calculator.

January decans: the ten-day stretches

Each sign is cut into three decans of about ten days, ruled in turn by the sign itself and the next two signs of its element. Sources differ by a day on where a decan starts; these follow the sign dates on this page.

• January 1 to 10: Capricorn, decan 2, ruled by Taurus
• January 11 to 19: Capricorn, decan 3, ruled by Virgo
• January 20 to 29: Aquarius, decan 1, ruled by Aquarius
• January 30 to 31: Aquarius, decan 2, ruled by Gemini

January zodiac signs by date

Every January birthday, day by day. Rows marked cusp are dates a sign change can reach in some year or time zone; the note says which two signs are in play.

Full guides for the most-searched January dates: January 19, January 20.