Retrograde calendar 2021
In 2021 Mercury is retrograde three times: 30 Jan to 21 Feb (in Aquarius), 29 May to 22 Jun (in Gemini) and 27 Sep to 18 Oct (in Libra).
| Planet | Turns retrograde | Turns direct | From, to | Shadow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uranus | Sat 15 Aug 2020, 14:26 | Thu 14 Jan, 08:35 | 10°41′ Taurus → 6°43′ Taurus | 28 Apr 2020 to 1 May |
| Mercury | Sat 30 Jan, 15:51 | Sun 21 Feb, 00:52 | 26°29′ Aquarius → 11°01′ Aquarius | 15 Jan to 13 Mar |
| Pluto | Tue 27 Apr, 20:01 | Wed 6 Oct, 18:28 | 26°48′ Capricorn → 24°18′ Capricorn | 4 Jan to 27 Jan 2022 |
| Saturn | Sun 23 May, 09:18 | Mon 11 Oct, 02:17 | 13°31′ Aquarius → 6°52′ Aquarius | 14 Feb to 15 Jan 2022 |
| Mercury | Sat 29 May, 22:34 | Tue 22 Jun, 22:00 | 24°43′ Gemini → 16°07′ Gemini | 15 May to 7 Jul |
| Jupiter | Sun 20 Jun, 15:04 | Mon 18 Oct, 05:30 | 2°10′ Pisces → 22°19′ Aquarius | 27 Mar to 9 Jan 2022 |
| Neptune | Fri 25 Jun, 19:21 | Wed 1 Dec, 13:22 | 23°12′ Pisces → 20°24′ Pisces | 4 Mar to 22 Mar 2022 |
| Uranus | Fri 20 Aug, 01:40 | Tue 18 Jan 2022, 15:25 | 14°47′ Taurus → 10°49′ Taurus | 3 May to 5 May 2022 |
| Mercury | Mon 27 Sep, 05:10 | Mon 18 Oct, 15:16 | 25°28′ Libra → 10°07′ Libra | 6 Sep to 3 Nov |
| Venus | Sun 19 Dec, 10:35 | Sat 29 Jan 2022, 08:45 | 26°29′ Capricorn → 11°04′ Capricorn | 17 Nov to 2 Mar 2022 |
Tropical zodiac · geocentric, apparent positions · stations from the Swiss Ephemeris, checked against NASA JPL DE440 · times in UTC
Go deeper: stations, shadows and why sites disagree by a day
Retrograde. Seen from Earth, a planet sometimes appears to stop and move backwards through the zodiac. Nothing reverses in space: Earth is overtaking the planet, or being overtaken by it. The moments it stops are its stations; the time given is when its speed along the zodiac passes through zero.
Shadow. Before a retrograde, the planet crosses the degree where it will later turn direct; after it, it passes the degree where it turned retrograde. Between those two crossings it goes over the same stretch of sky three times. That span is the shadow.
A day’s difference. A station at 23:30 in London falls on the next day in Berlin. Calendars printed for one time zone are a day off for others; this page uses yours. Slow planets also barely move near a station, so sources that round differently can disagree by an hour for Jupiter to Pluto.