Rising sign calculator: what is my rising sign?
Your rising sign, also called your ascendant, is the zodiac sign that was coming up over the eastern horizon at the moment you were born. It changes about every two hours, so it is the one sign that needs your exact birth time and place. This free rising sign calculator gives you the answer first, then your Sun and Moon sign.
You need three things: your birth date, your birth time and your birth place. Without the time, nobody can work out your rising sign, so this calculator will not guess.
What each rising sign means
How you tend to come across to other people. These are tendencies, not rules.
- Aries
- People tend to see you as direct, quick and full of energy. You walk into a room ready to go.
- Taurus
- People tend to see you as calm, steady and hard to rush. You come across as someone who stays put.
- Gemini
- People tend to see you as curious, chatty and quick. You come across as easy to talk to and hard to pin down.
- Cancer
- People tend to see you as kind and a bit guarded at first. You check that a place feels safe before you open up.
- Leo
- People tend to see you as warm, confident and easy to notice. You come across as someone who takes up space.
- Virgo
- People tend to see you as neat, careful and sharp-eyed. You come across as quiet and capable until people get to know you.
- Libra
- People tend to see you as polite, friendly and easy to be around. You come across as someone who cares how things look.
- Scorpio
- People tend to see you as intense, private and hard to read. You come across as someone who sees more than they say.
- Sagittarius
- People tend to see you as upbeat, open and a bit restless. You come across as someone with a story and a plan.
- Capricorn
- People tend to see you as serious, steady and older than your age. You come across as someone who has things handled.
- Aquarius
- People tend to see you as independent, a little different and hard to label. You come across as friendly, but from a distance.
- Pisces
- People tend to see you as soft, dreamy and easy to talk to. You come across as someone who picks up on how others feel.
Common questions
- What is a rising sign?
- Your rising sign, or ascendant, is the zodiac sign on the eastern horizon at the moment and place you were born. It is often described as how you come across to people who just met you, and how you meet new situations.
- Why does my rising sign need my exact birth time?
- The sky turns all the way around once a day, so all 12 signs rise over the horizon in 24 hours. That is about two hours per sign. A birth time that is off by an hour or two can give you the wrong rising sign.
- What if I do not know my birth time?
- Look at your birth certificate first. Many have the time on them. You can also ask a parent or check hospital records. If you cannot find it, you can still use this tool for your Sun sign and Moon sign, but there is no honest way to get a rising sign.
- Is this rising sign calculator free?
- Yes. It is free. There is no account, no email and no sign up. Natus is the journaling app behind it, and the First Reading in the app is free too. Your birth date, time and chart are worked out inside your browser. They are not sent to us and they are not saved. Only the place name you type goes to Open-Meteo, a free map lookup, so we can find its coordinates and time zone.
- How accurate is it?
- Planet positions come from the same astronomy code the Natus app uses, and we test it against reference charts from astro.com. Signs and degrees are exact. The rising sign is only as good as your birth time, because four minutes of time moves it about one degree. Houses use the whole sign system. Sites that use another system, like Placidus, can give a different house number for the same planet. The signs stay the same.