Leo dates in 2027: Thursday, July 22, to Sunday, August 22, Eastern Time. The Sun enters Leo at 9:04 p.m. EDT on July 22 and Virgo at 4:14 a.m. EDT on Monday, August 23.
The Leo zodiac sign covers the fifth 30 degrees of the ecliptic, from 120° to 150° of celestial longitude. It begins when the Sun reaches 120° and ends when the Sun reaches 150° and enters Virgo.
In 2027, Leo begins at 9:04 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 22, in the United States, but on Friday, July 23, in the UK, India, and Australia, because the Sun crosses the boundary at 01:04 UTC. Most of July 22 is still Cancer in the United States.
The commonly printed “July 23 to August 22” range is close for 2027, but it was a day late in 2024, 2025, and 2026, when Leo began during the day on July 22.
Leo season 2027 also contains the total solar eclipse of Monday, August 2, the longest total eclipse visible from land between 2009 and 2114.
This page gives the exact 2027 start and end times in every US time zone, the dates for 2024 through 2030, and how the Western sign compares with Vedic Simha and with the Leo constellation.
Table of Contents
When is Leo season 2027?
Leo season 2027 runs from Friday, July 23, at 01:04 UTC to Monday, August 23, at 08:14 UTC, a span of 31 days, 7 hours, and 10 minutes.
The table below converts both moments to US and international time zones.
| Time zone | Leo begins (Sun enters Leo) | Leo ends (Sun enters Virgo) |
|---|---|---|
| UTC | Friday, July 23, 1:04 a.m. | Monday, August 23, 8:14 a.m. |
| US Eastern | Thursday, July 22, 9:04 p.m. EDT | Monday, August 23, 4:14 a.m. EDT |
| US Central | Thursday, July 22, 8:04 p.m. CDT | Monday, August 23, 3:14 a.m. CDT |
| US Mountain | Thursday, July 22, 7:04 p.m. MDT | Monday, August 23, 2:14 a.m. MDT |
| US Pacific | Thursday, July 22, 6:04 p.m. PDT | Monday, August 23, 1:14 a.m. PDT |
| Alaska | Thursday, July 22, 5:04 p.m. AKDT | Monday, August 23, 12:14 a.m. AKDT |
| Hawaii | Thursday, July 22, 3:04 p.m. HST | Sunday, August 22, 10:14 p.m. HST |
| London | Friday, July 23, 2:04 a.m. BST | Monday, August 23, 9:14 a.m. BST |
| India | Friday, July 23, 6:34 a.m. IST | Monday, August 23, 1:44 p.m. IST |
| Sydney | Friday, July 23, 11:04 a.m. AEST | Monday, August 23, 6:14 p.m. AEST |
In every US time zone, Friday, July 23, is the first full calendar day of Leo 2027. Sunday, August 22, is the last full day everywhere except Hawaii, where Virgo begins at 10:14 p.m. HST that evening.
Leo zodiac sign dates that differ by location
Leo 2027 begins in the evening in the Americas and on the next calendar day in Europe, Asia, and Australia, so the sign of a July 22 or July 23 birthday depends on the birthplace. These are the boundaries that matter for births in 2027:
- Thursday, July 22: in Eastern Time, a birth before 9:04 p.m. EDT is a Cancer, and a birth at or after it is a Leo. The cutoff is 6:04 p.m. PDT in Pacific Time and 3:04 p.m. HST in Hawaii.
- Friday, July 23: all of July 23 is Leo in the United States. In London, a birth before 2:04 a.m. BST is still a Cancer.
- Sunday, August 22: all of August 22 is Leo in the contiguous United States and Alaska. In Hawaii, a birth at or after 10:14 p.m. HST is a Virgo.
- Monday, August 23: in Eastern Time, a birth before 4:14 a.m. EDT is a Leo; in Pacific Time, the cutoff is 1:14 a.m. PDT.
The neighbouring signs are covered in Cancer Zodiac Sign Dates and Virgo Zodiac Sign Dates.
Leo dates by year, 2024 to 2030
Leo dates shift within a two-day window. In the United States, Leo began on July 22 in every year from 2024 to 2027. The table below lists each year’s start and end, drawn from these sources:
- 2024 to 2027: Cafe Astrology’s ingress pages for Leo (2024, 2025, 2026) and Virgo (2024, 2025, 2026), with the 2027 Virgo time from Moontracks.
- 2028: times from Moontracks, with dates confirmed by Augurine.
- 2029 and 2030: dates from Augurine’s ingress calendars for 2029 and 2030, which list dates without times.
| Year | Leo begins (Eastern Time) | Leo ends (Sun enters Virgo, Eastern Time) | Length of Leo season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Monday, July 22, 3:44 a.m. EDT | Thursday, August 22, 10:54 a.m. EDT | 31 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes |
| 2025 | Tuesday, July 22, 9:29 a.m. EDT | Friday, August 22, 4:34 p.m. EDT | 31 days, 7 hours, 5 minutes |
| 2026 | Wednesday, July 22, 3:13 p.m. EDT | Saturday, August 22, 10:19 p.m. EDT | 31 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes |
| 2027 | Thursday, July 22, 9:04 p.m. EDT | Monday, August 23, 4:14 a.m. EDT | 31 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes |
| 2028 | Saturday, July 22, 2:53 a.m. EDT | Tuesday, August 22, 10:00 a.m. EDT | 31 days, 7 hours, 7 minutes |
| 2029 | Sunday, July 22 (UTC date) | Wednesday, August 22 (UTC date) | Not yet confirmed to the minute |
| 2030 | Monday, July 22 (UTC date) | Friday, August 23 (UTC date) | Not yet confirmed to the minute |
Why the Leo start date moves
The Leo start date moves because the solar year is about 6 hours longer than a 365-day calendar year, so each ingress arrives roughly 6 hours later on the clock than it did the year before.
The Leo ingress moved from 3:44 a.m. EDT in 2024 to 9:29 a.m. in 2025, 3:13 p.m. in 2026, and 9:04 p.m. in 2027. The leap day on February 29, 2028, pulls it back to 2:53 a.m. EDT on July 22.
Leo season lasts about 31 days and 7 hours every year, which makes Leo the third-longest tropical sign, after Cancer and Gemini. Earth passes aphelion, the point where it moves most slowly in its orbit, in early July. That puts aphelion in Cancer season, with Gemini and Leo on either side, so those three are the longest signs.
How to check whether a birthday is Leo
Use this method for a birth date of July 22 or 23, or August 22 or 23:
- Find that year’s Leo start or end time in the tables above and convert it to UTC.
- Convert the birth time to UTC, accounting for daylight saving time at the birthplace.
- A birth at or after the start time and before the end time is Leo.
Events during Leo season 2027
Leo season 2027 contains no federal holidays. The next one, Labor Day, falls on Monday, September 6, 2027, during Virgo season, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The main astronomical event is the total solar eclipse of Monday, August 2, 2027.
| Event | Date and time | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Total solar eclipse | Monday, August 2, 2027; greatest eclipse at 10:07 UTC | Up to 6 minutes, 23 seconds of totality near Luxor, Egypt |
| Simha Sankranti | Tuesday, August 17, 2027, 4:46 a.m. EDT | Sun enters sidereal Leo in the Hindu calendar |
The eclipse path crosses Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Somalia, according to Space.com and Wikipedia.
It is the longest total solar eclipse visible from land since 2009, and no longer one will be visible from land until 2114. Totality will not be visible from the United States.
The eclipse falls in Leo season, but the eclipsed Sun will stand among the stars of Cancer, a few degrees from the Beehive Cluster, according to Wikipedia. The eclipse shows the gap between the sign and the constellation.
What is the Leo zodiac sign?
The Leo zodiac sign is the segment of the ecliptic from 120° to 150° of celestial longitude, the fifth of 12 equal sectors measured from the March equinox. Its symbol is the lion, written ♌.
Western astrology assigns Leo the attributes below, according to the reference entry on Wikipedia.
| Attribute | Leo |
|---|---|
| Position | 5th of 12 signs; ecliptic longitude 120°–150° |
| Symbol | ♌ the lion |
| Element | Fire, shared with Aries and Sagittarius |
| Modality | Fixed, shared with Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius |
| Ruling planet | Sun, the only sign ruled by the Sun |
| Exaltation | None in traditional astrology; Neptune in some modern systems |
| Detriment | Saturn (modern: also Uranus) |
| Fall | None in traditional astrology; Pluto in some modern systems |
| Opposite sign | Aquarius |
| Sanskrit name | Simha |
The lion is the Nemean lion of Greek myth. Heracles killed it as the first of his twelve labours, and Zeus placed it in the sky to mark the deed. Ancient Egyptian astronomers linked the constellation with the annual flooding of the Nile.
In astrological tradition, Leo is associated with confidence, generosity and a liking for attention. These are astrological attributions, not findings of psychological research.
Leo in Vedic astrology: Simha
Vedic (Jyotish) astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, so its Leo, called Simha, starts about 25 days after the Western sign. In 2027, the Sun enters sidereal Leo on Tuesday, August 17, at 4:46 a.m. EDT (2:16 p.m. IST), according to the Sankranti table published by Drik Panchang.
AAPS gives 2:13 p.m. IST for the same event. The 3-minute gap comes from different ayanamsa values; the ayanamsa is the offset each system uses between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs.
This moment is called Simha Sankranti. Sidereal Leo ends at Kanya Sankranti, when the Sun enters sidereal Virgo on Friday, September 17, 2027, at 4:44 a.m. EDT, also according to Drik Panchang. Sidereal Leo therefore lasts almost exactly 31 days in 2027.
As a result, a person born in Eastern Time between the evening of Thursday, July 22, and the early hours of Tuesday, August 17, 2027, is a Leo in Western astrology and a Cancer (Karka) in Vedic astrology. Only births from 4:46 a.m. EDT on August 17 to 4:14 a.m. EDT on Monday, August 23, are Leo in both systems.
The Leo constellation
The Leo constellation is separate from the Leo sign. It ranks 12th of the 88 constellations by area, covering 947 square degrees, according to Wikipedia’s constellation entry. These are its best-known features:
- Regulus (Alpha Leonis): the brightest star, magnitude 1.35, about 79 light-years away. Its name means “the little king.”
- The Sickle: an asterism of six stars that forms the lion’s head and mane and looks like a backward question mark.
- Denebola and Algieba: Denebola marks the lion’s tail, and Algieba marks its forehead.
- The Leo Triplet: three galaxies, M65, M66 and NGC 3628, roughly 20 to 37 million light-years away.
- The Leonids: a meteor shower that radiates from Leo and peaks on November 14–15. Its parent body is Comet Tempel-Tuttle.
The Sun passes in front of the Leo constellation from about August 10 to September 16, for 37 days, based on EarthSky’s table of constellation entry dates. That is about 6 days longer than the Leo sign lasts, and it begins almost three weeks later.
What Leo is not
Three different things share the name Leo, and their 2027 dates do not match. The table below compares them.
| Feature | Leo zodiac sign (tropical) | Simha (sidereal Leo) | Leo constellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used by | Western astrology | Vedic astrology, Hindu calendars | Astronomy |
| Defined by | 120° to 150° from the March equinox | Fixed stars, with an ayanamsa | IAU constellation boundaries |
| Length | About 31 days, 7 hours | About 31 days | About 37 days |
| 2027 start (Eastern Time) | Thursday, July 22, 9:04 p.m. | Tuesday, August 17 | About August 10 |
| 2027 end (Eastern Time) | Monday, August 23, 4:14 a.m. | Friday, September 17 | About September 16 |
Leo season is also unrelated to the Leonid meteor shower, which peaks in mid-November, when the Sun is in Scorpio. Nor is Leo a summer sign everywhere; in the Southern Hemisphere, Leo season falls in midwinter.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Leo dates?
The Leo dates in 2027 are Thursday, July 22, to Sunday, August 22, in US Eastern Time. Leo begins at 9:04 p.m. EDT on July 22 and ends at 4:14 a.m. EDT on Monday, August 23, when the Sun enters Virgo. Because Leo starts late on July 22, most people born that day in the United States are Cancers, and July 23 is the first full day of Leo.
Is July 22 Cancer or Leo?
July 22, 2027, is split between Cancer and Leo in the United States. The Sun enters Leo at 9:04 p.m. EDT (6:04 p.m. PDT) on Thursday, July 22, 2027, so births before that time are Cancer and births at or after it are Leo. In the UK and Australia, all of July 22, 2027, is Cancer, because Leo begins there on July 23.
Is August 23 Leo or Virgo?
August 23, 2027, is mostly Virgo. The Sun enters Virgo at 4:14 a.m. EDT (1:14 a.m. PDT) on Monday, August 23, 2027, so only a US birth before that time is a Leo. In 2024, 2025, and 2026, Virgo began on August 22 in Eastern Time, so all of August 23 was Virgo in those years.
What is the Leo symbol?
The Leo symbol is the lion, written with the glyph ♌, a small circle joined to a curving line usually read as the lion’s head and tail or mane. The lion is the Nemean lion of Greek mythology, defeated by Heracles in his first labour. Leo is a fire sign with fixed modality, and it is the only sign ruled by the Sun.
Is there an eclipse during Leo season 2027?
Yes. A total solar eclipse occurs on Monday, August 2, 2027, during Leo season, with greatest eclipse at 10:07 UTC and up to 6 minutes, 23 seconds of totality near Luxor, Egypt. The path crosses southern Spain, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula, and totality is not visible from the United States.
When is Simha Sankranti in 2027?
Simha Sankranti 2027 falls on Tuesday, August 17, 2027, at 2:16 p.m. IST, which is 4:46 a.m. EDT, according to Drik Panchang. It marks the Sun’s entry into sidereal Leo in the Hindu calendar. AAPS lists the same event at 2:13 p.m. IST. Sidereal Leo lasts until Kanya Sankranti on Friday, September 17, 2027.
