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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1977: when each graha changes sign

In 1977, Guru moves into Vrishabha on 22 Feb; Rahu moves into Kanya on 1 May; Guru moves into Mithuna on 18 Jul; Shani moves into Simha on 7 Sep. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

The grahas on 1 January 1977

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

Gochar calendar for 1977

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 1977

  • 12 Jan12:24 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 Jan1:20 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 15 Jan4:41 pm

    Guru turns direct at 27°38′ Mesha

  • 17 Jan1:31 pm

    Budha turns direct at 13°34′ Dhanu

  • 26 Jan12:41 am

    Mangala rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Jan8:07 pm

    Shukra enters Meena

February 1977

  • 1 Feb7:36 am

    Mangala enters Makara

  • 6 Feb9:22 am

    Budha enters Makara

  • 12 Feb2:21 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 22 Feb5:32 pm

    Guru enters Vrishabha

  • 26 Feb5:10 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 27 Feb1:54 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 30 Mar†

March 1977

  • 9 Mar1:25 am

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 12 Mar1:00 am

    Mangala enters Kumbha

  • 14 Mar11:17 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 15 Mar10:36 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 16 Mar8:29 am

    Shukra turns retrograde at 1°01′ Mesha

  • 23 Mar9:54 am

    Shukra enters Meena (moving backward)

  • 30 Mar3:15 pm

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 30 Mar4:26 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

April 1977

  • 1 Apr12:06 pm

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 11 Apr†

  • 11 Apr11:41 am

    Shani turns direct at 16°25′ Karka

  • 11 Apr12:21 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 13 Apr7:51 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 19 Apr12:50 pm

    Mangala enters Meena

  • 20 Apr7:38 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 20°59′ Mesha

  • 22 Apr5:27 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 8 May†

  • 27 Apr3:19 pm

    Shukra turns direct at 14°43′ Meena

May 1977

  • 1 May1:49 am

    Rahu enters Kanya (moving backward)

  • 1 May1:49 am

    Ketu enters Meena (moving backward)

  • 8 May5:51 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 May2:22 am

    Budha turns direct at 11°10′ Mesha

  • 14 May4:45 pm

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 20 May12:11 pm

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 19 Jun†

  • 28 May5:18 pm

    Mangala enters Mesha

  • 29 May7:36 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

June 1977

  • 6 Jun9:48 pm

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 14 Jun11:20 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 18 Jun2:43 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Jul†

  • 19 Jun7:36 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 23 Jun12:25 pm

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 30 Jun5:11 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

July 1977

  • 7 Jul11:59 am

    Budha enters Karka

  • 8 Jul4:20 pm

    Mangala enters Vrishabha

  • 12 Jul9:51 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 16 Jul10:08 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 18 Jul10:13 am

    Guru enters Mithuna

  • 24 Jul5:38 am

    Budha enters Simha

  • 26 Jul10:29 am

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 31 Aug†

  • 28 Jul7:44 am

    Shukra enters Mithuna

August 1977

  • 16 Aug6:28 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 21 Aug11:36 pm

    Mangala enters Mithuna

  • 22 Aug7:48 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 27°14′ Simha

  • 23 Aug9:07 am

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 29 Aug11:40 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Sep†

  • 31 Aug10:19 am

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

September 1977

  • 7 Sep10:09 am

    Shani enters Simha

  • 12 Sep11:48 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 Sep8:34 pm

    Budha turns direct at 13°25′ Simha

  • 16 Sep6:21 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 17 Sep12:44 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 30 Sep3:21 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Nov†

  • 30 Sep9:18 pm

    Budha enters Kanya

October 1977

  • 12 Oct1:44 am

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 13 Oct12:56 am

    Mangala enters Karka

  • 17 Oct6:17 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 18 Oct1:28 am

    Budha enters Tula

  • 24 Oct3:26 pm

    Guru turns retrograde at 12°36′ Mithuna

November 1977

  • 5 Nov5:24 am

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 5 Nov4:59 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 12 Nov9:04 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 16 Nov6:03 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 26 Nov7:40 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 29 Nov4:00 am

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

December 1977

  • 11 Dec5:11 pm

    Shani turns retrograde at 7°00′ Simha

  • 11 Dec5:50 pm

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 4 Mar†

  • 12 Dec7:40 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 13°55′ Dhanu

  • 13 Dec12:37 am

    Mangala turns retrograde at 18°01′ Karka

  • 15 Dec8:41 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 16 Dec6:55 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 27 Dec†

  • 23 Dec12:31 am

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 26 Dec7:06 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika (moving backward)

  • 27 Dec6:07 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

† 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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