How many days a year is Neptune retrograde?

158.4 days on average between 2016 and 2036 — 43.4% of the time. It varies from 156 to 159 days depending on the year, because the synodic period does not divide evenly into a calendar year.

When is Neptune retrograde in 2026?

7 July to 12 December 2026 in Aries.

What is a retrograde shadow period?

The stretch before and after the retrograde when the planet is covering the same degrees it will go back over. We compute it from the definition: the shadow opens when the planet first reaches the degree the retrograde will end on, and closes when it returns to the degree it began on. That roughly doubles the affected window.

Is Neptune retrograde actually moving backwards?

No. It is an apparent effect: we are watching from a planet that is also moving, and when the geometry lines up the other planet appears to slide backwards against the stars. Nothing changes about its actual orbit.

Neptune retrograde 2026

Neptune is retrograde 159 days this year — 43.5% of it. It turns back once every 367.49 days, which is why the count drifts from one year to the next.

Year by year: Neptune retrograde 2023, Neptune retrograde 2024, Neptune retrograde 2025, Neptune retrograde 2026, Neptune retrograde 2027, Neptune retrograde 2028, Neptune retrograde 2029, Neptune retrograde 2030, Neptune retrograde 2031 and Neptune retrograde 2032.

The planets either side of it: Uranus retrograde and Pluto retrograde.

Is Neptune retrograde right now?

Right now · 15 September 2026

Yes — retrograde

♆ Aries 2.89°

Moving backward 0.0272° per day. Direct again on 12 December 2026.

What the other pages do not tell you

The part that is measurable

43.4% of all days in 2016–2036, 158.4 a year on average — about one day in 2.

159 days of 2026 with the shadows counted, against 159 of retrograde proper — 44% of the year.

156–159 days in the lightest and heaviest year of 2016–2036.

2026 in detail

Neptune's stations in 2026, in UTC, with the degree inside the sign.

Period 1 of 1 · 159 days · retreats 2.81°

7 July → 12 December 2026

Stations retrograde 7 Jul 2026, 05:08 UTC · Aries 4.04°

Stations direct 12 Dec 2026, 20:32 UTC · Aries 1.23°

Falls in Aries, which traditionally colours it toward initiative, appetite and the willingness to go first

Which signs it happens in

66 retrograde periods of Neptune between 2000 and 2050, grouped by the sign the station falls in. They fall in only 4 signs — Neptune spends years in each sign, so half a century of retrogrades covers just a few of them.

24 Taurus · 36.4% 17 Aries · 25.8% 14 Pisces · 21.2% 11 Aquarius · 16.7%

Other years

2023 159 days retrograde 2024 159 days retrograde 2025 159 days retrograde 2026 159 days retrograde 2027 159 days retrograde 2028 158 days retrograde 2029 158 days retrograde 2030 158 days retrograde 2031 158 days retrograde 2032 158 days retrograde

Was Neptune retrograde when you were born? All retrograde planets How this is calculated

Why Neptune turns back

Neptune orbits outside Earth's path, so it appears to reverse around opposition — the weeks when Earth overtakes it on the inside track. Earth and Neptune line up again every 367.49 days, and across 2016–2036 a single retrograde lasted 153 days on average. Not one of those 21 years went without one.

Tradition ties Neptune to dissolution, imagination and the blurring of edges, and reads its retrograde as the time to go back over them. At 43.4% of all days, that advice covers a sizeable part of any year; the shadow dates in the table are explained on the retrograde overview.