The sky on Saturday, August 7, 2027
| Sun in | Leo |
|---|---|
| Moon in | Libra |
| Moon phase | First Quarter |
| Illumination | 32% |
| Ingresses | Moon enters Scorpio |
| Exact aspects | Sun sextile Mars Venus sextile Mars |
| Mercury retrograde | No |
Sun and Mars stand about sixty degrees apart today, a sextile, traditionally read as an easy, cooperative angle. Venus and Mars stand about sixty degrees apart today, a sextile, traditionally read as an easy, cooperative angle. The Moon is in Libra, 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.