January 17 Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
The short answer
People born on January 17 are Capricorn. On this date the Sun sits between 25.8° Capricorn and 28.1° Capricorn in every year from 1950 to 2025, in the third decan of Capricorn.
January 17 at a glance
| Zodiac sign | Capricorn (December 22 to January 19) |
|---|---|
| Sun position, 1950 to 2025 | 25.8° Capricorn to 28.1° Capricorn (usually 26.9° Capricorn at noon UTC) |
| Decan | third decan of Capricorn: Virgo (triplicity), Sun (Chaldean), Four of Pentacles (Golden Dawn) |
| Element | Earth |
| Modality | Cardinal |
| Ruling planet | Saturn |
| Nearest sign change | About 1.9 days away |
What a January 17 birthday means
On January 17 the Sun sits between 25.8° Capricorn and 28.1° Capricorn in every year from 1950 to 2025, counting every hour of the day in UTC. Its usual noon position is 26.9° Capricorn.
That places January 17 in the third decan of Capricorn. The modern triplicity system gives this decan to Virgo, the older Chaldean order gives it to the Sun, and the Golden Dawn tradition pairs it with the Four of Pentacles.
Capricorn is an earth sign of the cardinal modality, ruled by Saturn. Earth signs trust what they can touch, count and build on. Cardinal signs start things: each one opens a season.
January 17 sits close to the boundary between Capricorn and Aquarius, about 1.9 days away, but in every year charted the Sun was in Capricorn for the whole of this date.
When the Sun changes sign around January 17
Across 1950 to 2025, the Sun entered Aquarius on these dates (UTC):
- January 19: 6 years
- January 20: 66 years
- January 21: 4 years
If you were born near the change, your birth year and time decide your sign: cast your free birth chart to see it.
Where these figures come from
The Sun's position was charted at 12:00 UTC on every day from 1950 to 2025, and the start and end of each date were placed on the straight line between neighbouring days, which is exact to a small fraction of a degree. The range covers every hour of January 17 in UTC across all 76 years; someone born far from UTC can sit up to about half a degree beyond it. Decans follow two traditional systems: the triplicity system, which gives each third of a sign to the three signs of its element in turn, and the older Chaldean order of faces, which runs through the seven classical planets from Mars at the start of Aries.
Other birthdays
January: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Every date of the year · Capricorn traits · Four of Pentacles
Born on January 17? Vera reads the whole chart, not just the Sun.
Your Sun sign is one line of your chart. Vera casts the rest from your birth time and place, then answers what you actually want to know.