What is a solar return chart?

A solar return chart is a chart cast for the moment the Sun returns to its exact birth degree, once a year around your birthday. Astrologers read it as a forecast for the twelve months until your next birthday: the rising sign sets the tone, the Sun’s house shows the focus, and the planets’ aspects to your birth chart show the strongest themes.

Why is my solar return not at my exact birth time?

A calendar year is not exactly as long as the Sun’s cycle, and leap years shift the count, so the Sun reaches your birth degree at a different clock time each year. For someone born July 15, 1997 at 8:30 a.m. in New York, the 2027 return is July 15, 2027 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, not 8:30 a.m.

Do I need my exact birth time for a solar return?

Yes, for the rising sign and houses. The Sun moves only about 2.5 arc-minutes an hour, so a rough birth time moves the return moment by about the same amount of time, but the Ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours. Without a reliable birth time, read only the date and the aspects.

Should I cast my solar return for my birth place or where I am on my birthday?

Both traditions exist. This calculator casts it for your birth place, the simplest and most common default. Relocated returns, cast for where you spend your birthday, keep the same moment and planets but can change the rising sign and houses; some people plan birthday trips around them.

What matters most in a solar return chart?

Start with the return rising sign and the Sun’s house, then the return Moon and the closest aspects to your birth chart. In the example on this page the return rising sign is Scorpio, the Sun falls in the 9th house and the return Moon is in Sagittarius.

Is a solar return used in Vedic astrology?

Yes. The Vedic annual chart, called Varshaphal or Tajika, is a solar return measured in the sidereal zodiac. Because the sidereal reference point drifts about 50 arc-seconds a year, it lands later than the Western one, about 11 hours later for the 2027 example on this page, and the rising sign can differ.

Solar Return Calculator: Your Birthday Chart for the Year

Free solar return calculator: enter your birth date, time and place to get the exact moment the Sun returns to its birth degree, your solar return rising sign, the Sun’s house and the year’s key aspects.

Start with your own chart

Free birth chart

The direct answer: A solar return is the moment each year when the Sun comes back to the exact degree it held when you were born, always within a day of your birthday. The chart cast for that moment is read as your forecast for the year ahead.

Example solar return: born July 15, 1997 at 8:30 a.m. in New York

Your 2027 solar return: July 15, 2027 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, when the Sun returns to 23°03′ Cancer.

Solar return rising sign: Scorpio (Ascendant 4°57′ Scorpio), cast for New York, NY.

Scorpio rising brings an intense, private, transformative year. Trust, shared money, intimacy and what you are ready to let go of come up. Depth beats breadth; what you commit to now changes you.

Sun in the 9th house: travel, higher learning, publishing and your beliefs expand this year.

Return Moon: 21°18′ Sagittarius, in your 2nd house — where your feelings keep pulling you this year.

Key highlights of the year

Return Moon trine your natal Venus (1°00′ from exact). This year, your moods, needs and home life flows easily with love, pleasure and money.
Return Moon trine your natal Saturn (1°12′ from exact). This year, your moods, needs and home life flows easily with structure, duty and long-term commitments.
Return Moon sextile your natal Jupiter (1°17′ from exact). This year, your moods, needs and home life opens a door for growth, luck and generosity.
Return Saturn trine your natal Ascendant (1°22′ from exact). This year, structure, duty and long-term commitments flows easily with how you approach life and come across.
Return Mars trine your natal Neptune (1°35′ from exact). This year, your drive and appetite for a fight flows easily with imagination, ideals and intuition.

Your second, sidereal layer: measured against the stars (sidereal zodiac, Lahiri), as in the Vedic annual chart (Varshaphal), this return lands about 11 hours later, because the sidereal reference point drifts a little each year. The rising sign can change with it.

Enter your own birth date, time and city in the calculator on this page for your chart. Computed with Swiss Ephemeris; times in US Eastern time.

What is a solar return?

Every year the Sun travels once around the zodiac and comes back to the exact degree it held when you were born. That moment is your solar return. Because a calendar year is not exactly the length of the Sun’s cycle, it lands within a day of your birthday but rarely at your birth time.

Astrologers cast a full chart for that moment and read it as a forecast for the year until your next birthday. The rising sign of that chart sets the year’s tone, the Sun’s house shows where your focus goes, and the return planets’ aspects to your birth chart point to the year’s strongest themes.

Your year by solar return rising sign

Aries rising

Aries rising on your return sets a fast, self-starting year. You are more willing to go first, pick a fight worth having and act before every detail is settled. The risk is impatience; the payoff is momentum on the thing you have been circling.

Taurus rising

Taurus rising slows the year down on purpose. Money, comfort, the body and what you actually own come into focus, and steady effort beats bursts. It is a good year to build savings, routines and anything meant to last.

Gemini rising

Gemini rising makes it a busy, talkative year: more messages, short trips, classes and side projects. Curiosity opens doors; scattered attention is the cost. Writing, teaching and networking tend to pay off.

Cancer rising

Cancer rising turns the year toward home, family and emotional security. Moves, renovations, caring for someone or redefining what home means are common themes. Protect your energy and let the people close to you in.

Leo rising

Leo rising puts you in the spotlight. Creative work, romance, children and being seen for what you make all get louder. It is a year to take credit, perform, and lead with warmth rather than wait to be asked.

Virgo rising

Virgo rising makes it a year of repair and refinement. Health habits, daily work and the systems that run your life get an overhaul, and small, consistent changes add up. Useful work brings real satisfaction.

Libra rising

Libra rising centers the year on partnership. Relationships, collaborations and contracts take the lead, and you are more aware of how others see you. Fairness, negotiation and choosing your people well are the skills.

Scorpio rising

Scorpio rising brings an intense, private, transformative year. Trust, shared money, intimacy and what you are ready to let go of come up. Depth beats breadth; what you commit to now changes you.

Sagittarius rising

Sagittarius rising widens the horizon: travel, study, publishing, belief and big-picture plans. Optimism runs high and the world feels larger. Say yes to the trip or the course, and watch for overpromising.

Capricorn rising

Capricorn rising makes it a serious, ambitious year. Career structure, responsibility and long-term goals take the lead, and effort is noticed by people with authority. Pace yourself; this is a building year, not a sprint.

Aquarius rising

Aquarius rising points the year toward friends, groups, technology and the future you want. You may change circles, join something bigger or reinvent how you work. Independence and community pull in the same direction.

Pisces rising

Pisces rising softens the year’s edges. Intuition, creativity, rest and spiritual life get more room, and plans may stay fluid. It is a year to follow inspiration, protect your boundaries and leave space for quiet.

How your solar return is calculated

Your natal Sun is computed with Swiss Ephemeris, the same engine AskSoma uses for full birth charts, as a geocentric tropical longitude (the Western zodiac). The calculator then searches the days around your birthday in the year you choose and narrows the Sun’s return to that exact degree down to the second.

For that moment it computes every planet, the Ascendant for your birth place from local sidereal time, and whole-sign houses counted from the return Ascendant. Highlights are the closest aspects from the return planets and Ascendant to your birth chart, within a few degrees. Times are shown in US Eastern time.

What this page can NOT tell you

This page cannot tell you what will happen this year. A solar return describes emphasis and timing; what you do with it is yours.
Birth time matters a lot: the return Ascendant moves about one sign every two hours, so a birth time off by 30 minutes can change your solar return rising sign.
The chart here is cast for your birth place. Some astrologers cast it for where you are on your birthday instead (a relocated return), which can change the rising sign and houses.

Frequently asked questions

What is a solar return chart?: A solar return chart is a chart cast for the moment the Sun returns to its exact birth degree, once a year around your birthday. Astrologers read it as a forecast for the twelve months until your next birthday: the rising sign sets the tone, the Sun’s house shows the focus, and the planets’ aspects to your birth chart show the strongest themes.
Why is my solar return not at my exact birth time?: A calendar year is not exactly as long as the Sun’s cycle, and leap years shift the count, so the Sun reaches your birth degree at a different clock time each year. For someone born July 15, 1997 at 8:30 a.m. in New York, the 2027 return is July 15, 2027 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, not 8:30 a.m.
Do I need my exact birth time for a solar return?: Yes, for the rising sign and houses. The Sun moves only about 2.5 arc-minutes an hour, so a rough birth time moves the return moment by about the same amount of time, but the Ascendant changes sign roughly every two hours. Without a reliable birth time, read only the date and the aspects.
Should I cast my solar return for my birth place or where I am on my birthday?: Both traditions exist. This calculator casts it for your birth place, the simplest and most common default. Relocated returns, cast for where you spend your birthday, keep the same moment and planets but can change the rising sign and houses; some people plan birthday trips around them.
What matters most in a solar return chart?: Start with the return rising sign and the Sun’s house, then the return Moon and the closest aspects to your birth chart. In the example on this page the return rising sign is Scorpio, the Sun falls in the 9th house and the return Moon is in Sagittarius.
Is a solar return used in Vedic astrology?: Yes. The Vedic annual chart, called Varshaphal or Tajika, is a solar return measured in the sidereal zodiac. Because the sidereal reference point drifts about 50 arc-seconds a year, it lands later than the Western one, about 11 hours later for the 2027 example on this page, and the rising sign can differ.

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About the author

Written by Savan Vyas, founder of AskSoma.

The astrology is not written from memory: every chart position, dasha period and panchang timing AskSoma shows is computed with the Swiss Ephemeris on the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa. How we calculate.