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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1976: when each graha changes sign

In 1976, Guru moves into Mesha on 25 Feb; Guru moves into Vrishabha on 8 Jul; Guru moves into Mesha on 8 Dec. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

The grahas on 1 January 1976

Sidereal (Lahiri) sign, and from when to when. Open a graha for its whole year.

Gochar calendar for 1976

Times in IST. Each is the same instant everywhere on Earth. The Moon changes sign every two and a half days, so its list is on its own page.

Sign changeRetrograde / directAsta / rising

January 1976

  • 14 Jan12:12 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 15°47′ Makara

  • 14 Jan7:05 pm

    Surya enters Makara

  • 17 Jan2:20 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 29 Jan†

  • 21 Jan3:01 am

    Mangala turns direct at 21°13′ Vrishabha

  • 21 Jan4:11 am

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 29 Jan12:08 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

February 1976

  • 2 Feb11:55 am

    Budha enters Dhanu (moving backward)

  • 4 Feb4:27 am

    Budha turns direct at 29°49′ Dhanu

  • 5 Feb10:29 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 13 Feb8:05 am

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 14 Feb3:54 pm

    Shukra enters Makara

  • 25 Feb5:09 pm

    Guru enters Mesha

March 1976

  • 2 Mar6:39 pm

    Mangala enters Mithuna

  • 5 Mar12:19 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 10 Mar12:21 am

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 14 Mar4:59 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 17 Mar10:27 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 15 Apr†

  • 23 Mar10:55 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 28 Mar1:58 am

    Shani turns direct at 2°30′ Karka

April 1976

  • 3 Apr8:16 am

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 7 Apr11:40 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 13 Apr2:55 am

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 13 May†

  • 13 Apr1:31 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 15 Apr7:01 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 24 Apr2:48 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 27 Apr4:56 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

May 1976

  • 4 May10:28 pm

    Mangala enters Karka

  • 9 May10:33 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 10°13′ Vrishabha

  • 12 May6:01 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 29 May†

  • 12 May6:47 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 24 Jul†

  • 13 May2:37 am

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 May10:25 am

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 22 May2:41 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 29 May1:22 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

June 1976

  • 2 Jun6:50 am

    Budha turns direct at 1°26′ Vrishabha

  • 14 Jun5:04 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 15 Jun12:54 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 26 Jun9:46 am

    Mangala enters Simha

July 1976

  • 1 Jul10:10 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 3 Jul12:50 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 29 Jul†

  • 8 Jul5:12 pm

    Guru enters Vrishabha

  • 9 Jul10:44 pm

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 11 Jul3:46 pm

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 16 Aug†

  • 15 Jul11:44 pm

    Budha enters Karka

  • 16 Jul3:58 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 24 Jul4:35 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 29 Jul4:34 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 31 Jul4:00 am

    Budha enters Simha

August 1976

  • 3 Aug7:52 am

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 14 Aug7:01 am

    Mangala enters Kanya

  • 16 Aug12:25 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 16 Aug8:51 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 20 Aug4:44 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 27 Aug4:55 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

September 1976

  • 9 Sep3:33 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 14°20′ Kanya

  • 16 Sep3:55 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 28 Sep†

  • 16 Sep12:21 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 19 Sep11:52 pm

    Guru turns retrograde at 7°41′ Vrishabha

  • 21 Sep3:05 am

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 28 Sep10:06 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 29 Sep7:00 am

    Budha enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 29 Sep10:56 am

    Mangala enters Tula

  • 30 Sep12:12 pm

    Mangala becomes combust (asta) until 26 Jan†

October 1976

  • 1 Oct9:29 am

    Budha turns direct at 29°37′ Simha

  • 3 Oct11:58 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 15 Oct3:31 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 17 Oct12:17 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 17 Oct2:05 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 3 Dec†

  • 25 Oct2:09 pm

    Budha enters Tula

November 1976

  • 9 Nov7:41 am

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 12 Nov2:43 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 12 Nov9:45 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 16 Nov12:02 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 27 Nov11:46 pm

    Shani turns retrograde at 23°21′ Karka

December 1976

  • 2 Dec7:32 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 3 Dec7:29 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 4 Dec7:17 am

    Shukra enters Makara

  • 8 Dec3:52 pm

    Guru enters Mesha (moving backward)

  • 15 Dec2:37 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 23 Dec1:32 pm

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 28 Dec10:03 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 29°47′ Dhanu

  • 30 Dec12:48 am

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 31 Dec9:51 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Jan†

† Practice varies. Texts and almanacs give slightly different asta limits, and some almanacs use the true rather than the mean node for Rahu and Ketu, which can move the nodes’ sign changes by some weeks.

See also: Transits over your chart · Gochar (glossary) · Sade Sati · Ayanamsa · Sankranti

Understand

What gochar is

Gochar means the movement of the grahas: each moves on through the zodiac, and when it crosses from one rasi into the next, that is its sign change (sankramana). This page only says which graha is where, and when. In the classical method gochar is read by counting from a person’s natal Moon sign; to see today’s sky against your own chart, open the transits tool.

Retrograde (vakri) and direct (margi)

Seen from the Earth, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn now and then appear to move backward for a while. That is retrograde motion; the instant the graha stops and turns is a station, and moving forward again is turning direct. It is an effect of the Earth and the planet moving on their orbits at different speeds. The Sun and Moon are never retrograde; Rahu and Ketu (mean) always move backward.

Combustion (asta)

A graha very close to the Sun is lost in its glare; the texts call it asta (set), and its reappearance udaya (rising). The Surya Siddhanta gives a distance limit for each graha. The limits used here: Mangala 17°, Budha 14° (12° when retrograde), Guru 11°, Shukra 10° (8° when retrograde), Shani 15°. Almanacs leave out the asta periods of Guru and Shukra when choosing times for samskaras such as weddings.

Sidereal signs

Indian almanacs count the rasis against the stars (nirayana). Western (tropical) signs run about 24° ahead, so the dates printed there are about three weeks earlier than these. The ayanamsa used here is Lahiri.

How this is calculated

Each graha’s apparent geocentric position from NASA JPL’s DE421 ephemeris, less the Lahiri ayanamsa. The instants of crossing a rasi edge, of zero speed and of reaching the asta limit are found by bisection to under a second. Small differences in ayanamsa can move a slow graha’s time (Shani above all) by a few hours against other almanacs.

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