Saturn turns direct in Aries
24 December 2027 · 03:01 UTC
In 476 days
Saturn comes to a standstill at 21°06′ Aries on 24 December 2027, 03:01 UTC, and resumes forward motion against the fixed stars.
Nothing is actually reversing. Retrograde motion is a perspective effect: Earth and Saturn 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 Saturn 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 Saturn passes 21°06′ Aries again.
Times are UTC, computed from the ephemeris rather than transcribed. Positions are geocentric and tropical.