What is a conjunction?
It is the meeting: two planets on the same degree of the zodiac, or a few degrees apart. There is no angle between them — the distance is zero, and that is why it is the only aspect with no "side".
An aspect is the distance between two planets measured on the wheel of the zodiac. When that distance falls close to an angle the tradition recognises, the two are said to form an aspect — and that is what links one part of the chart to another. The whole logic is in what an aspect is.
How common the conjunction is
I measured 200,000 charts drawn at random between 1930 and 2025, with the same orbs this site uses to cast charts and with the engine’s own rule: each pair of planets forms one one aspect, the tightest one.
| Aspect | Angle | Average per chart | Charts that have at least one | Of the five major ones |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square | 90° | 2.90 | 93.5% | 23.4% |
| Sextile | 60° | 2.82 | 94.1% | 22.8% |
| Trine | 120° | 2.68 | 92.9% | 21.6% |
| Conjunction | 0° | 2.47 | 93.9% | 19.9% |
| Opposition | 180° | 1.52 | 73.0% | 12.3% |
| Quincunx | 150° | 0.93 | 58.2% | — |
The conjunction takes up a single place on the wheel and still reaches 19.9% of the major aspects — against the 12.3% of the opposition, which also takes up a single place. What lifts it is the orb: the conjunction has the widest in the table, ten degrees when both are the Sun or the Moon, tied with the opposition. And there is a second reason, which belongs to the inner planets: Mercury never gets more than 27.8° from the Sun and Venus never passes 47.2°, so those two pairs live close — and close, for a conjunction, means forming one.
And there is a number the table shows that almost no astrology text says out loud: 93.9% of charts have at least one conjunction. Having one distinguishes almost nobody. What distinguishes is WHICH planets it links, and which houses they are in.
How the conjunction feels
The conjunction joins, it does not blend. The two planets start acting as one thing, and whoever has them can hardly ever tell one from the other — someone with Venus and Saturn together does not feel "affection" and "limit" in two beats: they feel one thing that is both at once, and assume everyone feels the same.
The limit is worth saying: these are tendencies, not a verdict. An aspect describes how two functions of the chart talk to each other — it does not foretell events, diagnoses nobody and decides nothing for you.
Four conjunctions that show up a lot
The aspect on its own says almost nothing: what gives it a subject are the two planets. These four pairs are among the most common, and they show how the same geometry changes face:
| The pair | How it usually shows up |
|---|---|
| Sun–Moon | born on a New Moon: will and need pull the same way, which is comfortable and blind |
| Moon–Saturn | emotion comes with a factory-fitted brake; it usually looks like someone who never asks |
| Venus–Mars | taste and the will to go after it are the same thing — desire without hesitation |
| Sun–Pluto | identity comes with intensity built in; there is no discreet presence here |
Notice that the angle is the same in all four and the subject is completely different. That is why "I have a conjunction" is not a reading — it is the start of one.
The pairs that never form a conjunction
Neptune and Pluto have not met for more than a century. They spent the last hundred years between 42.6° and 65.3° apart, locked in a resonance that keeps them in that band — the only thing they form is the sextile. A conjunction between the two is a five-hundred-year event, and it has not happened in the chart of anyone alive.
This is not a rule of one school: it is the orbits of the planets. And it is a useful check at home — if a site shows one of those pairs with this aspect, it is not calculating the sky.
The orb decides whether it counts
Two planets almost never fall on the exact angle. The orb is the leeway allowed: how far off the angle the aspect can be and still count. And it does not belong to the aspect alone — it depends on who forms it.
This site uses a wider orb for the Sun and the Moon, a narrower one for the outer planets, and takes the average of the two. Measured across the same 200,000 charts: when a conjunction happens, the average distance to the exact angle is 3.92°. That is, the tight aspect is far more common than the one on the edge — and your chart shows the exact distance of each, instead of only the name.
See the conjunctions in your chart — the chart is free and comes out at once, with date, time and city. It lists every aspect with the two planets, the orb and the exact distance. Generate my chart for free.
The conjunction in your chart
The question that matters is not how many you have: it is where they fall. An aspect between two planets in the 10th house speaks of work and reputation; the same aspect between the same planets in the 4th speaks of home and family. The house depends on the hour and city of birth, and it is what turns geometry into a reading.
The two texts that carry on from here are what an astrological house is, which explains the twelve areas, and what the birth chart is, which puts the whole picture together.
Frequently asked questions about the conjunction
Is the conjunction good or bad?
Neither, and it is the aspect where that question applies least. It has no quality of its own: it borrows the quality of the two planets. Sun with Jupiter and Sun with Saturn are the same geometry and two opposite climates. What the conjunction always does is the same — join, to the point where the person cannot tell one planet from the other.
How many conjunctions does a chart usually have?
On average 2.47, measured across 200,000 charts drawn at random between 1930 and 2025 with the orbs this site uses. And 93.9% of charts have at least one — which means that having one distinguishes almost nobody; what distinguishes is WHICH planets it joins.
What is the orb of the conjunction?
It depends on the two planets, not on the aspect alone. This site uses a wider orb for the Sun and the Moon and a narrower one for the outer planets, and takes the average of the two. When a conjunction actually happens, the average distance to the exact angle is 3.92° — well inside the limit, because a tight aspect is more common than one on the edge.
Does the conjunction show up in everyone’s chart?
No. 93.9% of charts have at least one, so 6.1% have none — and that is real information about the person, not a flaw in the calculation.
Questions for people just starting out
The conjunction in brief
- Angle 0 degrees
- Average per chart 2.47
- Charts that have it 93.9%
- Of the five major ones 19.9%
- What it does joins, it does not blend
The conjunction joins, it does not blend. What it links is what decides the subject, and that your chart answers. See yours free here.
