Cusp dates
The Virgo and Libra cusp
The Virgo and Libra cusp falls on September 22 and September 23. Most tables give September 22 to Virgo and September 23 to Libra, but the Sun moves from one sign to the other at a single moment, and that moment changes from year to year.
The dates
Virgo runs August 23–September 22 and Libra runs September 23–October 22 in the standard tropical table this site uses for every tool and page. The cusp days are the last standard day of Virgo and the first standard day of Libra. If your birthday is on any other day you do not need this page. Your sign is in the Virgo guide or the Libra guide.
When the Sun enters Libra, 2026 to 2028
Exact times from the ingress data on this site, shown in UTC and in four local time zones.
Swipe the table sideways →
| Year | UTC | Vancouver | Toronto | London | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sep 23, 00:05 UTC | Sep 22, 5:05 pm | Sep 22, 8:05 pm | Sep 23, 1:05 am | Sep 23, 10:05 am |
| 2027 | Sep 23, 06:02 UTC | Sep 22, 11:02 pm | Sep 23, 2:02 am | Sep 23, 7:02 am | Sep 23, 4:02 pm |
| 2028 | Sep 22, 11:45 UTC | Sep 22, 4:45 am | Sep 22, 7:45 am | Sep 22, 12:45 pm | Sep 22, 9:45 pm |
Why the year matters
The Sun takes about 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes to come back to the same point on the ecliptic, but a calendar year has 365 days, or 366 in a leap year. So the moment the Sun enters Libra drifts against the clock. In the data on this site it arrives 5 hours 57 minutes later on the clock in 2027 than in 2026, and 18 hours 17 minutes earlier on the clock in 2028 than in 2027, because February 29 falls between the two dates. Leap days pull it back every four years, which is why the change keeps landing on September 22 or September 23 instead of wandering off. The Moon and the other planets tug the Earth slightly, so the figures are never quite regular.
Why birth time and time zone matter
Take 2026. The Sun entered Libra at 00:05 UTC on September 23. In Vancouver the clocks read 5:05 pm on September 22, so someone born in Vancouver later that day was born a Libra even though the date on their birth certificate is the last standard day of Virgo.
It works the other way too. In 2026 the change reached Sydney at 10:05 am local time on September 23, so a baby born in Sydney on September 23 before 10:05 am is still a Virgo, even though most tables would call September 23 a Libra birthday.
This is why the table above gives four cities. The same instant falls at different local times, and near midnight it falls on different dates. Daylight saving time moves the local clock as well, and the times above already allow for it.
How to check your sign
- Find your birth date, the time on your birth record and the place you were born.
- Convert that local time to UTC. Remember daylight saving time if it was in force that day.
- Compare it with the time the Sun entered Libra that year. Before that moment you are a Virgo, and from it onward you are a Libra.
For 2026, 2027 and 2028 the birthday sign lookup and the year calendars (2026, 2027, 2028) list the exact times. The data on this site covers those three years only. For any other birth year you need an ephemeris or a chart calculator that takes your birth time and place.
Where this cusp sits in the year
The Sun's move into Libra is the September equinox, when it crosses the celestial equator heading south. Day and night are close to equal length everywhere, which is one reason the sign of the scales sits here. Astrologers call the point zero degrees Libra, another cardinal point. Virgo is mutable earth ruled by Mercury, and Libra is cardinal air ruled by Venus.
How popular astrology reads this cusp
Popular astrology reads people born near this boundary as careful and charming: Virgo's precision softened by Libra's tact. Gary Goldschneider's book The Secret Language of Birthdays calls the week around this change the Cusp of Beauty. People born on September 22 or 23 often find that both signs describe them in parts, especially Virgo's habits and Libra's way with people. Tradition gives one answer, though, and it comes from the equinox time for your birth year.
Read more
Read the Virgo guide and the Libra guide, see the September zodiac calendar, or go back to all 12 cusps.