The sky on Thursday, April 15, 2027

Sun in	Aries
Moon in	Leo
Moon phase	First Quarter
Illumination	67%
Mercury retrograde	No

The Moon is in Leo, near its first quarter, climbing toward full.

What is a station?

A station is the moment a planet's apparent motion pauses before it changes direction, either turning retrograde or turning direct again.

Seen from Earth, a planet slows down as it approaches a station until, for a short time, it barely moves against the stars at all. Then it starts moving the other way. Both ends of a retrograde period are stations: one going in, one coming out.

Astrologers pay attention to stations because a body that stops moving sits on the same degree of the zodiac for days, which makes its theme unusually persistent. That is a statement about duration, not about severity.

Stations are rare on a daily page. Across a whole year there are only about a dozen among the classical planets, which is why they get their own line when one occurs.