Skip to content
the zodiac

Pisces

from , ,
to ,

The Sun in front of the constellation
12 March to 19 April 2026
Brightest star
Alpherg
In astrological tradition
water sign, mutable sign
Traditional ruler
Jupiter (Neptune for modern authors)
Engraving from 1690: two fish joined by a long wavy ribbon, on a grid of coordinates beneath the wing of Pegasus.
Johannes Hevelius, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, Gdańsk, 1690, plate of Pisces (detail). As on a celestial globe, the sky is seen from outside, and therefore mirrored.

Aphrodite and Eros

To escape the monster Typhon, Aphrodite and Eros leapt into the Euphrates and turned into fish: that is Hyginus’s version, citing Diognetus of Erythrae.

In Ovid’s Fasti, Venus and Cupid are carried away on the backs of two fish. Hyginus also preserves another tale, in which fish are rewarded for helping an egg reach the shore.

The cord and the vernal point

Pisces grew out of a combination of Babylonian constellations, ‘the Great Swallow’ and Anunitum, ‘Lady of the Heavens’. In the astronomical diaries of the 1st millennium BC, part of it was called DU.NU.NU, ‘the fish cord’.

The March equinox now lies in Pisces, just south of Omega Piscium, and is slowly drifting towards Aquarius.

The real constellation

It is a faint constellation: its brightest stars go no further than magnitude 3.6. It holds van Maanen’s Star, the closest known solitary white dwarf, invisible to the naked eye.

From Brussels, Alpherg climbs to 54 degrees and is highest around 10 pm in late November. In 2026 the Sun stood in front of Pisces from 12 March to 19 April. This week the Moon passes through on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Its stars

Eta Piscium

Alpherg

Magnitude 3.62, about 350 light years away: the brightest star in the constellation.

Alpha Piscium

Alrescha

Magnitude 3.62. A variable double star whose name means ‘the cord’.

Gamma Piscium

A star and its planet

Magnitude 3.70, about 138 light years away. An exoplanet was discovered around it in 2021.

M74

The Phantom Galaxy

A spiral galaxy about 30 million light years away, discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780.

In art and history

Two fish and a cord: the figure needs no more lines than that.

  • BabylonDU.NU.NU, ‘the fish cord’, in the astronomical diaries.
  • RomeIn Ovid, Venus and Cupid escape on the backs of two fish.
  • Scientific atlasesIn 1690 Hevelius engraved the two fish joined by a long ribbon winding across the sky.

Pisces this week

Read it for pleasure, not for prophecy.

A piece written for fun, based on the real sky of 19 to 25 October 2026. It says nothing about your future.

The Moon grows in your stars on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and is full on Monday morning. If you plan to sleep, draw the curtains; if you plan to dream, leave them open.

The vernal point, where the whole zodiac begins, now lies with you. You didn’t ask for it. That often happens to you.

Sources

Facts checked in the following sources; positions and times computed for Brussels.