Saturn
Planet
Time, limits, structure — and the lessons that stick.
In the sky right now
Aries 10°09′
Ecliptic longitude 10.16°
Currently retrograde
Daily motion -0.074° per day
Retrograde cycle
- StatusRetrograde
- Stationed retrogradeJul 26, 2026
- Goes directDec 10, 2026
- Saturn retrogrades once a year for about four and a half months.
Astronomy
- Average distance from the Sun
- 1.43 billion km (9.5 AU)
- Orbital period
- 29.46 Earth years
- Rotation period
- 10 hours 33 minutes
- Diameter
- 116,460 km
- Density
- 0.687 g/cm³ — less dense than water
- Rings
- Mostly water ice, spanning about 280,000 km but often under 1 km thick
- Moons
- 274 confirmed as of August 2026 — more than any other planet — including Titan, which has a thick atmosphere
- Rings first seen
- Galileo in 1610; identified as rings by Huygens in 1655
Planetary facts follow NASA and JPL reference data. Moon counts reflect IAU-recognised satellites as of August 2026. Zodiacal positions and retrograde stations are calculated live using the app's VSOP87/NOVAS-derived astronomy engine rather than being hard-coded. The lunar nodes shown are True (osculating) nodes, computed from the Moon's instantaneous orbital plane — the same convention Astro.com uses by default.
Greek & Roman mythology
Greek
Cronus (Kronos)
Roman
Saturnus
Cronus was the Titan who overthrew his father Uranus at his mother Gaia's urging, then swallowed each of his own children to avoid the same fate — until Rhea hid the infant Zeus and gave him a stone in swaddling instead. The prophecy came true anyway.
The Greeks distinguished Kronos the Titan from Chronos, personified Time, but the two were already being blurred in antiquity, which is where Saturn's association with time and the harvest scythe comes from.
Saturnus in Rome was a god of sowing and agriculture, and his reign was remembered as a lost Golden Age. His festival, the Saturnalia, ran from 17 December and inverted the social order for its duration: gifts were exchanged, formal dress was abandoned, and enslaved people were served by their households.
In a natal chart
Saturn governs structure, discipline, boundaries, responsibility, time and consequence. Traditionally the Greater Malefic, it is better read as the planet of what must be earned.
It spends roughly two and a half years in each sign. The first Saturn return, around ages 29 to 30, is one of the most-discussed transits in astrology.
Saturn rules Capricorn and — traditionally — Aquarius, is exalted in Libra, in detriment in Cancer and Leo, and in fall in Aries.
Rules: Capricorn (and traditionally Aquarius)
See where Saturn falls in your chartExplore the rest of the sky
Don't write your paper based on this page. We keep the facts as accurate as we can, but moon counts get revised, missions rewrite the textbooks, and the live positions are computed on the fly — treat this as a reliable starting point, not a real-time oracle.