Just as the sun is the center of the orbit of all the planets in the solar system, it's also the center of you -- your inner fire, the vital energy that will run through you your whole life. It represents your basic, core personality, separate from all the other influences that drive you.

Your Sun tells a lot about you, not only your personality itself but your strengths and challenges in life and your purpose here on Earth. That's a lot of meaning and information for one planet to carry! That's why it burns so brightly, with such strength.

You've probably heard the old cliché, 'Hey, baby, what's your sign?' That refers to your Sun Sign -- where the Sun was in the Zodiac at the moment you were born. Even if you think you're not that similar to a description of your Sun Sign, don't be fooled. Some people have complex charts with lots of strong and varied influences that give them multifaceted, even seemingly contradictory personalities.

But in general, through the course of your life, you'll move closer to the true meaning and energy of your Sun Sign, because that is the core of you. It embodies who you are, who you're striving to be, the lessons you need to learn and the strengths you already possess to get where you're going in life.

The Sun rules the warmhearted sign of Leo; read about Leo to learn more about this sign and the Sun's influence on it.

The planets are: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

When we talk about the Sun's cycles, we are really talking about the Earth. It is only from our perspective that the Sun appears to travel through the zodiac in one year; in reality, it’s the earth that takes one year to orbit around the Sun.

The Sun is the largest feature of our solar system, containing approximately 98% of the total mass in it. It is definitely the brightest and hottest object, by far! The interior of the Sun could hold over 1.3 million Earths.

Since the Sun is a ball of gas, it rotates differently than the solid planets and moons do. Some parts of the Sun move faster than other parts. At the Sun’s surface, one complete rotation on its axis takes approximately 25 days at the equator, but up to 36 days at the poles. However, below the outer shell of the Sun, everything seems to make complete rotations in a period of 27 days.

The Sun is considered a 'luminary,' not a planet, and does not have apparent retrograde motion.

The Sun can be relied upon to provide us daylight every morning when we wake up. In the natal chart, this brilliant luminary relates to the ego or the core self. The Zodiacal sign that the Sun resides in reveals certain traits of your personality.

The Sun's return every year to its natal position in a chart is called a Solar Return. The chart cast for that moment will describe the 'astrological weather' of the coming year.