Jupiter turns direct in Cancer
11 March 2026 · 02:01 UTC
177 days ago
Jupiter comes to a standstill at 15°05′ Cancer on 11 March 2026, 02:01 UTC, and resumes forward motion against the fixed stars.
Nothing is actually reversing. Retrograde motion is a perspective effect: Earth and Jupiter are on different tracks at different speeds, and for a stretch of weeks we overtake it — or it overtakes us — so it appears to slide backwards across the sky. Astrologers have read that apparent hesitation for two thousand years, and the reading has stayed roughly the same.
Forward motion returns, though Jupiter will not clear the degree it started from for some weeks yet. The convention is that the backlog does not resolve at the station but at the point where Jupiter passes 15°05′ Cancer again.
Times are UTC, computed from the ephemeris rather than transcribed. Positions are geocentric and tropical.