Glossary · Aspects
The orb of an aspect: how many degrees of leeway, and what the gap changes
The orb is the leeway given to an aspect around its exact angle. A perfect trine measures 120°; two planets 115° or 126° apart are still in trine, with an orb of 5° or 6°. The narrower the gap, the louder the aspect speaks in the chart.
Why an aspect does not need to be exact
Every planet moves at its own pace, and two of them rarely land precisely on the angle of an aspect. Accept only perfect angles and hardly any chart would have aspects at all. The orb marks out the zone within which two planets stay in conversation.
Think of a musical note: in tune, it rings out fully; slightly off, you still recognise it; too far off, it becomes another note. The orb says how far an astrologer’s ear can still hear the note.
To measure it, take the distance between the two planets and subtract the angle of the aspect. Venus at 3° Leo and Saturn at 8° Scorpio are 95° apart: a square, 5° from exact. Leo and Scorpio sit three signs apart, the signature of a square, and the gap between the degrees, from 3 to 8, gives you the orb.
That sign-counting shortcut breaks down when the leeway carries a planet into the next sign, as with a trine between 28° Aries and 2° Virgo. This is called an out-of-sign, or dissociate, aspect, and only the count in degrees settles it.
How many degrees of orb for a conjunction, square or trine?
Each major aspect has a base orb. The most emphatic ones, the conjunction and the opposition, get the most room; the sextile, the quietest, gets the least. Minor aspects such as the quincunx work with much narrower margins, and the wheel does not draw them.
Here are the orbs applied to your chart between two planets, when neither the Sun nor the Moon is involved; beyond them, the calculation records no aspect at all:
- Conjunction (0°): 8°
- Opposition (180°): 8°
- Square (90°): 7°
- Trine (120°): 7°
- Sextile (60°): 5°
Sun, Moon, angles, slow planets: adjusted orbs
The Sun and the Moon, the luminaries, carry extra weight in a chart, so any aspect involving one of them gains 2°. A conjunction or opposition then stretches to 10°, a square or trine to 9°, a sextile to 7°.
Other points are read more tightly. With the Ascendant or the Midheaven, no aspect goes beyond 6°, even when the Moon is involved. Between two slow planets, Uranus, Neptune or Pluto, the orb narrows to 4°: these aspects last for years and a whole generation shares them, so they must be close to describe one person.
Finally, the lunar Nodes and Chiron are sensitive points rather than planets: 5° for a conjunction or opposition, 4° for a square, 3° for a trine or sextile, with no luminary bonus.
On the wheel, an exact aspect stands out at a glance: its line is thicker. The calculation calls exact any aspect within one degree.
Tight orb, wide orb: what the gap changes in a reading
At 0°30′, an aspect is a character trait nobody can miss. At 6°, it is still there, more like a background colour. Between two aspects of the same kind, the one with the smaller orb speaks first.
An invented example: a Moon at 14° Virgo forms a trine within 1° to Jupiter at 15° Capricorn, and a square within 8° to Mars at 22° Sagittarius. The near-exact trine sets the main tone, feelings that settle by taking the wider view. The loose square adds a flash of impatience now and then.
The gap does not tell the whole story: an aspect that is tightening does not act like one that is coming apart. That is the distinction between applying and separating aspects.
The orb of a pattern: one extra degree of play
A grand trine, a T-square or a grand cross is not read as a set of aspects side by side: it is a whole shape, and astrologers give it a little more room. The calculation adds one degree to the ordinary orb of each side, capped at 8°.
In practice, a side of a pattern can reach 8° between two planets, 7° with the Ascendant or the Midheaven, and 5° between two slow planets. Between the Sun or the Moon and another planet, the ordinary orb is already above that cap, so it stays as it is.
A 7°20′ trine between Mars and Jupiter therefore does not appear in your table of aspects; if it closes a grand trine, it still counts, but only as part of that shape.
Where to find the orbs in your chart
On your chart wheel, tap a planet: its bubble lists its aspects from tightest to widest, each with its orb. Further down, under “Your chart in detail”, the “All the aspects and the houses” fold gives the complete table.
You can also ask Vega “What is the tightest aspect in my chart?”: she answers from the aspects calculated for you, orbs included.
Calculate your chart: every aspect comes with its orb, so you can see at a glance which ones lead the dance.
Calculate my chart