Sagittarius season begins on 22 November in London and on 21 November in Los Angeles, and both dates are correct. The Sun enters Sagittarius in 2026 at about 07:23 UTC on 22 November and leaves at about 20:50 UTC on 21 December, when it enters Capricorn at the December solstice. The season lasts 29 days and 13 hours. This guide converts those moments to eight time zones, shows why cusp birthdays shift between years, and reports where sources disagree.
A word on how we work. The dates are astronomy: they mark when the Sun reaches a fixed point on the ecliptic. The meanings attached to the season are a tradition, and we keep the two apart.
The Mechanics: What Starts the Season
Astrologers measure the zodiac in degrees of ecliptic longitude from the March equinox point. The Sun reaches 240 degrees when Sagittarius begins and 270 degrees, the December solstice, when it ends. The tradition counts Sagittarius as the ninth sign, a fire sign and a mutable sign, ruled by Jupiter, with the archer as its symbol. Those labels belong to the tradition. Nothing in the sky measures them.
Watch for: the season has no fixed calendar date. It begins at a moment, and that moment lands on a different day in different time zones. By 14 November, Mercury and Venus are both direct, as our Scorpio season guide sets out, so neither is retrograde when the season opens.
Macroscopic Symptoms: The Season in Eight Time Zones
We converted the UTC moments ourselves and checked every row in code. Times use each place’s standard time on those dates.
| Place | Season starts | Season ends |
|---|---|---|
| Pago Pago, American Samoa | Sat 21 Nov, 8:23 pm | Mon 21 Dec, 9:50 am |
| Honolulu | Sat 21 Nov, 9:23 pm | Mon 21 Dec, 10:50 am |
| Los Angeles | Sat 21 Nov, 11:23 pm | Mon 21 Dec, 12:50 pm |
| New York | Sun 22 Nov, 2:23 am | Mon 21 Dec, 3:50 pm |
| London | Sun 22 Nov, 7:23 am | Mon 21 Dec, 8:50 pm |
| Karachi | Sun 22 Nov, 12:23 pm | Tue 22 Dec, 1:50 am |
| Sydney | Sun 22 Nov, 6:23 pm | Tue 22 Dec, 7:50 am |
| Auckland | Sun 22 Nov, 8:23 pm | Tue 22 Dec, 9:50 am |
How the Moment Moves From Year to Year
The Sun enters Sagittarius about six hours later each year, then resets at a leap year. Times below are UTC, from the Astro Library dates page.
| Year | Sun enters Sagittarius | Sun enters Capricorn |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 22 Nov, 07:23 | 21 Dec, 20:50 |
| 2027 | 22 Nov, 13:16 | 22 Dec, 02:42 |
| 2028 | 21 Nov, 18:54 | 21 Dec, 08:19 |
Cusp Birthdays: A Worked Example
A birthday on 21 or 22 November, or 21 or 22 December, can fall on either side of the line. Take a person born in London on 22 November 2026. At 06:00 the Sun was still in Scorpio. At 08:00 it was in Sagittarius. Move the same birthday and the same 08:00 to 2027, and the Sun is still in Scorpio, because the entry that year came at 13:16 UTC. Any tool that takes only a date has to pick a fixed cutoff. If you were born near the line, use your birth time, place and year in an ephemeris. Our Birthday Stack shows a sun sign next to a stone, numbers and tarot cards, and the Sagittarius page lists the sign’s traditional traits.
Where Sources Disagree
- Start date: most sources give 22 November. One crystal retailer’s November guide gives 21 November, which matches the Pacific and Hawaii rows above. Both are right for their own clock.
- Start minute: sources give 07:23 or 07:24 UTC, and one rounds to 07:00. We use 07:23, which matches the Astro Library table and the Cafe Astrology listing of 2:23 am Eastern.
- Zodiac: the dates above use the tropical zodiac. Sidereal astrologers place the Sagittarius season about three to four weeks later, roughly mid-December to mid-January, and one source gives 16 December to 13 January. We did not verify the sidereal dates.
The Five-Point Binary Grid: Tropical and Sidereal Seasons
This operational grid is our own diagnostic, not a traditional system.
| Spec | Tropical | Sidereal |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Anchored to the equinoxes and solstices | Anchored to the fixed stars |
| 2026 start | 22 Nov, 07:23 UTC | Mid-December (unverified) |
| Used by | Most Western astrologers | Vedic (Jyotish) astrologers |
| Systemic friction | Cusp birthdays shift by year and time zone | Dates differ again by the offset chosen |
| Containment | Name the zodiac before you compare dates | Name the offset before you compare dates |
Recorded Symptoms
These are illustrative composites, not real case files.
Symptom 1. A reader born on a 22 November sees Sagittarius on one site and Scorpio on another. Each site rounded to a calendar date. Only the birth hour and the birth year settle the answer.
Symptom 2. A planner books a fresh start for 22 November because the tradition calls Sagittarius expansive. The date works as a calendar prompt and nothing more. The new start would have worked the same on any other date.
Insulation Protocols: Using the Season on Your Terms
- Convert the moment to your time zone. Use the table above and write down your own start and end.
- Check cusp birthdays with a time and a year. An ephemeris answers it. A calendar page does not.
- Name the zodiac (tropical or sidereal) before you compare two sources.
- Treat the season as a calendar prompt. Pick one goal and set a review date 30 days out.
- Keep money, health and contracts out of it. A season gives no information about them.
Plain note: no study shows that a sign season changes events or moods. If a reading worries you, stop and talk to a person.
FAQ
When does Sagittarius season start in 2026?
The Sun enters Sagittarius on 22 November 2026 at about 07:23 UTC. That is 21 November on the US Pacific coast and in Hawaii, and 22 November from the US East Coast eastward.
When does Sagittarius season end in 2026?
It ends at about 20:50 UTC on 21 December 2026, when the Sun enters Capricorn at the December solstice. In Karachi that moment falls at 1:50 am on 22 December.
Is Sagittarius season 21 November or 22 November?
Both, depending on your time zone. The moment is the same everywhere. The calendar date on your clock differs.
Who rules Sagittarius?
Jupiter, in the traditional scheme. The tradition also calls the sign a mutable fire sign.
Does Sagittarius season change anything?
No study shows it does. Our write-up of the Carlson test covers the best-known controlled test of astrology.
Aftermath
The tradition says the Sun in Sagittarius favours expansion, travel and big questions. The astronomy gives only a moment, 07:23 UTC on 22 November 2026, and a second moment 29 days later. Convert both to your own clock, check a cusp birthday with a time and a year, and treat everything else as a prompt. For the sign itself, see the Sagittarius page and our Sagittarius spirit animal guide.
External Data Check
Season pages tend to promise optimism, luck and adventure, and many give the start date as one fixed day. The date is a moment, and it moves by time zone and by year, as the tables show. The promises of luck have no controlled test behind them. A flattering season forecast feels accurate because of the Barnum effect, not because the sky holds information about your month.
Sources
- Astro Library, Sagittarius dates: the 2026, 2027 and 2028 entry and exit times in UTC.
- Cafe Astrology, Sun enters Sagittarius 2026: 2:23 am Eastern, 22 November.
- Astrolis, November 2026 calendar: the exit at 3:50 pm Eastern on 21 December.
We could not verify: the sidereal season dates, the minute-level differences between sources, and the traditional rulership, which we took from secondary summaries. The time-zone conversions are our own arithmetic, checked in code.
Last reviewed: 9 November 2026.
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