The third sign · Air

Gemini

Two brothers who refused to be separated, even by death.

21 May to 20 JunAirMutableRuled by Mercury

The Sun next enters Gemini on Friday, May 21, 2027 at 06:17, Greenwich time. Exact Gemini dates

Gemini is the third sign of the zodiac, a mutable air sign ruled by Mercury. The Sun is in Gemini from around 21 May to around 20 June. In a chart, Gemini describes curiosity, quick connections and the need to talk things through, in whatever part of life it falls.

Gemini at a glance

Symbol
The Twins
Sun in Gemini
About 21 May to 20 June (exact times vary by year)
Element
Air
Modality
Mutable
Ruled by
Mercury
Exaltation
None in traditional astrology
Detriment
Jupiter
Fall
None in traditional astrology
Natural house
The 3rd house
Opposite sign
Sagittarius

Which stars make up Gemini?

Two bright stars side by side mark the twins’ heads, Castor and Pollux, easy to find above Orion on winter evenings. Pollux is the brighter and warmer, an orange giant with a known planet of its own.

Castor looks like one star but is six, three pairs of stars orbiting each other, all bound together. Long chains of fainter stars run down from the pair, the twins’ bodies standing side by side.

PolluxCastorAlhena

Where does Gemini come from?

In Babylon these were already twins, MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL, the Great Twins, gods who guarded doorways. The Greeks made them Castor and Pollux, brothers born to the same mother, Leda. Castor was mortal and Pollux the son of Zeus.

When Castor was killed, Pollux begged Zeus to let him share his immortality rather than live without his brother. Zeus let them alternate, one day on Olympus and one in the underworld, together. Sailors took them as patrons, and the electric glow that sometimes crowns a ship’s mast in a storm was read as the twins coming aboard.

Gemini has a surprising place in astronomy. William Herschel discovered Uranus here in 1781, the first planet found since antiquity, and Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in the same constellation in 1930.

  1. c. 1000 BCE

    The Great Twins

    Babylonian star lists name the pair MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL, the Great Twins, guardians of the gateway.

  2. Greek myth

    Castor and Pollux

    One mortal brother, one immortal. When Castor dies, Pollux gives up half his immortality so they can share their days.

  3. 1781

    A new planet

    William Herschel spots Uranus among the stars of Gemini, the first planet discovered with a telescope.

  4. 1930

    Another one

    Clyde Tombaugh finds Pluto on photographs of the same patch of sky.

  5. c. 150 CE to today

    Seasons, not stars

    Gemini is measured from the equinox and closes out spring. The stars of the twins now host the Sun from late June to late July.

How does Gemini line up with the real sky?

There are three different versions of every sign. The Earth’s axis wobbles like a slowing spinning top, a full circle about every 25,800 years, and that drags the spring equinox west against the stars by about one degree every 72 years.

Western astrology

Tropical: measured from the spring equinox

21 May to 21 June

Vedic astrology

Sidereal: measured from the stars (Lahiri)

15 June to 16 July

Astronomy

The Gemini constellation (IAU boundaries)

About 21 June to 20 July

Dates of the Sun's passage in 2026, computed by Hali.

Western astrology stays locked to the seasons, Vedic astrology follows the stars, and the two are now 24.2° apart. Hali uses the tropical zodiac because it follows the seasons the signs were named for.

Does science support astrology?

Not as a way to predict personality or events, and controlled studies have found no such effect. We get the sky exactly right and treat the meaning as a language for reflection. Read more in Is astrology scientific?

How often is Gemini rising?

The share of each day with Gemini on the Ascendant, and how long it takes to rise, at four latitudes. In London it is the 7th most common of the 12 rising signs.

PlaceShare of the dayTime to rise
Equator8.9%129 min
Madrid8%115 min
London7.4%106 min
Reykjavík5%72 min

Find your rising sign

The rarest rising sign, city by city

How common is Gemini?

In US birth records from 1994 to 2014, 8.57% of babies were born under Gemini, about 86 in every 1,000. That makes Gemini number 4 of 12, where 1 is the most common.

See all 12 signs ranked

When is the Moon next in Gemini?

The Moon is next in Gemini from Tue 24 Nov 11:09 UTC until Thu 26 Nov 10:51 UTC.

The next full moon in Gemini is the Beaver Moon, on Tuesday 24 November 2026.

Where is the Moon today?

Sources and methods

Tropical and sidereal (Lahiri) dates for 2026 computed by Hali; constellation dates approximate, from IAU boundaries. Babylonian names follow the MUL.APIN star compendium.

Dignities follow Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, Book I. Our data is free to use under CC BY 4.0.

Gemini in your chart

Sun in GeminiMoon in GeminiMercury in GeminiVenus in GeminiMars in GeminiJupiter in GeminiSaturn in GeminiUranus in GeminiNeptune in GeminiPluto in GeminiGemini rising

Gemini with every sign

Gemini and AriesGemini and TaurusGemini and GeminiGemini and CancerGemini and LeoGemini and VirgoGemini and LibraGemini and ScorpioGemini and SagittariusGemini and CapricornGemini and AquariusGemini and Pisces