The sky today
Thursday, August 20, 2026
This page is the sky as it stands today: where the Sun and Moon are, what the Moon is doing with its light, and which angles close exactly before the day is out. Positions are read in the tropical zodiac, geocentric, with no ayanamsa applied, so a sign here is a season of the year rather than a constellation behind it. Under the day's own figures there is one piece of the craft explained plainly, and tomorrow's page explains another.
| Sun in | Leo |
|---|---|
| Moon in | Sagittarius |
| Moon phase | First Quarter |
| Illumination | 54% |
| Ingresses | Moon enters Sagittarius |
| Exact aspects | Venus opposition Saturn |
| Mercury retrograde | No |
Venus and Saturn face each other across the zodiac today, an opposition, read as a pull between the two ends of one axis. The Moon is in Sagittarius, near its first quarter, climbing toward full.
What is an opposition in astrology?
An opposition is a one hundred and eighty degree angle, two bodies facing each other across the chart, and it reads as two true things pulling in different directions.
Signs six apart share a mode and sit in complementary elements, so an opposition is a real polarity rather than a mismatch. A full moon is the most familiar one: the Sun and Moon opposite each other, both fully in play.
Because an opposition often shows up through other people, it is easy to experience it as someone else being difficult. The more useful frame is that the far end of the axis is a part of you that is currently being carried by somebody else.
The point is not to pick a side and call it settled. It is to see both ends clearly and decide what balance you actually want, which is a choice you get to make.