Mars Enters Virgo on November 26, 2026 — and Stays Until July 2027, With a Detour Back Into Leo
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Mars enters Virgo at about 23:00 UTC on November 26, 2026. That is 08:00 on November 27 in Seoul and Tokyo, and 18:00 on November 26 in New York. Mars has been in Leo since September 28.
Usually Mars spends six to eight weeks in a sign. This time it will not be done with Virgo until July 2027, because the next Mars retrograde starts while Mars is in Virgo.
Mars, November 2026 – July 2027 (UTC)
| Date (UTC) | What happens | Sign |
|---|---|---|
| September 28, 2026 | Mars enters Leo | Leo |
| November 26, 2026, about 23:00 | Mars enters Virgo | Virgo |
| January 10, 2027 | Mars turns retrograde at 10° Virgo | Virgo |
| February 20, 2027 | Retrograde Mars backs into Leo | Leo |
| April 1, 2027 | Mars turns direct at 20.5° Leo | Leo |
| May 15, 2027 | Mars re-enters Virgo | Virgo |
| July 15, 2027 | Mars enters Libra | Libra |
Add up the two stays and Mars is in Virgo for about 86 + 61 = 147 days spread over nearly eight months, with a three-month gap in Leo in the middle.
Has this happened before?
Yes. Mars retrogrades come back to nearly the same part of the zodiac after 15, 32 or 47 years. The closest recent match is 2011–2012: Mars entered Virgo in November 2011, turned retrograde there, and stayed in Virgo without a break for 235 days, from November 11, 2011 to July 4, 2012, the longest single Mars stay in one sign in our 1980–2030 search. In 2026–2027 the retrograde carries Mars further back, over the Leo line, so the stay is split in two.
Born between November 26, 2026 and July 15, 2027?
Most babies born in that window will have Mars in Virgo. The exception is February 20 to May 15, 2027, when Mars is back in Leo. Births close to an ingress depend on the hour: Mars moves about two-thirds of a degree a day in late November, so a birth on November 26 or 27 needs a chart with the birth time.
What the numbers do and don't tell you
Which sign Mars is in is astronomy. Astrology reads Mars in Virgo as drive turned to detail and method. That is an interpretation, and this table cannot prove or disprove it. It can tell you, to within about an hour for the ingress and about a day for the stations, when Mars changes sign and direction.
How we calculated: planetary positions from the public-domain formulas in our chart engine (Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, and NASA/JPL low-precision orbital elements). Sign changes were searched hour by hour. Our Mars is accurate to a few hundredths of a degree, about an hour of motion at this time of year; retrograde stations are the slowest moments of the motion, so treat those dates as accurate to within about a day.