How to use it
- Leave the date and time empty to see the planets now, or type the date and the time you want.
- Find the body in the table: its sign and degree give its place in the zodiac, and the motion column says whether it is retrograde.
- Use right ascension and declination for the position on the star map, and the distance for how far the body is from the Earth.
- Tick Show the time in UTC to read the moment in Universal Time.
What the columns mean
The longitude is the position along the ecliptic, the path of the Sun among the stars, counted from the spring equinox. Dividing it into twelve parts of 30 degrees gives the sign, and the degree in sign is what is left over. The right ascension and declination are the same position on the celestial equator, the way an astronomer reads a star chart.
The motion is retrograde when the longitude is decreasing at that moment, as seen from the Earth. The Sun and the Moon are never retrograde. The distance is from the centre of the Earth, in astronomical units; one unit is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun.
sign = longitude ÷ 30 (the whole part); degree in sign = longitude − 30 × signWhat this page does not show
- Whether a body is visible from where you are. Visibility depends on the sky, the Sun's position and your location, and this page uses the centre of the Earth.
- The meanings that astrology gives to signs and planets. The positions are astronomy; the meanings belong to a tradition.
Worked example: Mercury on 26 February 2026 at 00:00 UT
At 00:00 UT on 26 February 2026 Mercury is at 22.56 degrees of Pisces, so its sign is Pisces and the degree is 22.56. It is still moving direct, and it turns retrograde later that day.
Its right ascension is 23h 28m 22s, its declination is −00° 27′, and its distance from the Earth is 0.7711 AU. These match the JPL Horizons ephemeris for the same moment.
Frequently asked questions
Why are the positions in the table different from my horoscope website?
Many websites use an older or a rounded table, or a different zodiac. These positions are computed for the exact moment you choose, from the planets' apparent places, and the sign is the tropical one.
What does geocentric mean?
It means the positions are as seen from the centre of the Earth, not from the Sun. Planets appear to move backward when seen this way, which is why retrogrades happen.
Why does the Moon change sign so often?
The Moon moves about 13 degrees a day, so it passes through a sign of 30 degrees about every two to three days. The planets move much more slowly and stay in a sign for months or years.
How accurate are the figures?
The longitudes agree with the JPL Horizons ephemeris to a few thousandths of a degree in the checks made for this page, and the right ascension and distance agree to the digits shown.
Sources
- JPL Horizons, NASA's ephemeris system: the positions used to check this table
- astronomy-engine, the open-source astronomy library (MIT) that computes the positions
Figures and text last checked on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.