Taurus dates in astrology are typically from April 20 to May 20. If your birthday falls in this date range, you most likely are a Taurus Sun sign. Although Taurus horoscope birth dates can change depending on the year, these are customarily the Taurus calendar dates.
About Taurus dates
For about 30 days each year, the Sun travels through the part of the zodiac occupied by Taurus. April 20-May 20 is typically the Taurus birth date range. Occasionally, the Taurus start date will be a day earlier on April 19, or the Taurus end date will fall a day later on May 21.
Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac, which contains 12 signs in total. The Taurus star sign is a grounded earth sign (element) and a tenacious fixed sign (quality). As the only fixed earth sign in the zodiac, Taurus people are determined, driven and known (no surprise!) for their stubborn streaks. Or maybe they’re just really, really committed?
Once Taurus people make up their minds to move in a certain direction, it’s hard for them to shift gears. But hey, at least they’re consistent! If you date a Taurus, don’t expect a light-and-airy fling. This security-seeking sign is looking for a romantic companionship that’s built to last. While their appetites for pleasure are boundless, Taurus people need an adventurous lover and a life partner in one.
Did the Taurus dates change?
The constellations have shifted. Is there a different Taurus birth date range?
Periodically, astronomers will announce “breaking news” that horoscopes aren’t accurate because the constellations have shifted. Or they will announce is a 13th zodiac sign, citing the constellation Ophiucus and claiming that the horoscope dates for Taurus (and every other sign) have changed.
Here’s an interesting bit of clarification between astronomy and astrology. The actual constellations have shifted over the ages, but astrology follows a different system, which uses “artificial” constellations. Rather than following the movement of the visible stars, Western astrology is based on the apparent path of the Sun as seen from our vantage point on earth. Within that path, astrologers have carved out static zones, and we track the planetary movements against these. That is why Taurus dates remain the same even as the heavens keep shifting.
In second century Alexandria, the great mathematician and astronomer/astrologer Ptolemy created the Tropical Zodiac, which is a fixed system that is not affected by changes in the constellations or the Earth’s axis. Ptolemy used the same names for the zodiac signs as he did for the constellations, which is why there is confusion around the Taurus birth date range. The Tropical Zodiac is static and not affected by shifts in the Earth’s axis. It begins every year with the Aries pseudo-constellation, which is based on the position of the Sun at the spring equinox on March 21.
As the website Astrologer.com explains it:
Western astrology is based on the planets and their motion relative to our year (the Earth’s annual orbit of the Sun) and not on the distant stars. Before astrologers started to compile planetary tables, the backdrop of the distant visible ‘fixed’ stars proved to be most consistent system for measuring the positions of the ‘wandering stars’, known as the planets in our solar system. The 12 sign zodiac was defined by the stars within chosen constellations along the ecliptic (the apparent annual path of the Sun) in Mesopotamia at the end of the Iron Age (around 500 BC). Though the Babylonians used stars and constellations for measurement, they were also using zones which start from the position of the Sun at the March Equinox which was, is and will always be the start of the sign of Aries in the western system.
Vedic Astrology and Taurus star sign dates
Vedic astrology, also known as Jyotisha, is the traditional Hindu astrology system. It is based on the Sidereal zodiac, or Nirayana, which is an imaginary 360-degree “belt” of zodiac signs divided into 12 equal sectors. However, Vedic astrology is different from Western astrology in that it measures the fixed zodiac, rather than the moving zodiac. So in Vedic astrology, the Taurus dates would be May 15-June 14. Go figure!
View Your Taurus Horoscope
Dates of other zodiac signs
Aries Horoscope Dates (March 21-April 19)
Taurus Horoscope Dates (April 20-May 20)
Gemini Horoscope Dates May 21-June 20)
Cancer Horoscope Dates June 21-July 22)
Leo Horoscope Dates (July 23-August 22)
Virgo Horoscope Dates (August 23-September 22)
Libra Horoscope Dates (September 23-October 22)
Scorpio Horoscope Dates (October 23-November 21)
Sagittarius Horoscope Dates (November 22-December 21)
Capricorn Horoscope Dates (December 22-January 19)