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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1978: when each graha changes sign

In 1978, Guru moves into Karka on 5 Aug; Rahu moves into Simha on 18 Nov. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

The grahas on 1 January 1978

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

Gochar calendar for 1978

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 1978

  • 1 Jan3:32 am

    Budha turns direct at 27°36′ Vrishchika

  • 7 Jan5:40 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 14 Jan7:26 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 15 Jan8:47 pm

    Shukra enters Makara

  • 31 Jan3:15 pm

    Budha enters Makara

February 1978

  • 7 Feb2:31 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 14 Mar†

  • 8 Feb6:03 pm

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 12 Feb8:28 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 16 Feb1:19 pm

    Mangala enters Mithuna (moving backward)

  • 19 Feb6:11 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 20 Feb7:10 am

    Guru turns direct at 2°32′ Mithuna

March 1978

  • 2 Mar3:30 pm

    Mangala turns direct at 28°44′ Mithuna

  • 4 Mar5:43 pm

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 4 Mar7:15 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 7 Mar9:31 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 14 Mar5:25 pm

    Surya enters Meena

  • 14 Mar8:21 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 17 Mar12:14 pm

    Mangala enters Karka

  • 26 Mar10:12 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 28 Mar9:23 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

April 1978

  • 1 Apr9:46 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 2°35′ Mesha

  • 4 Apr4:35 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 19 Apr†

  • 8 Apr11:21 pm

    Budha enters Meena (moving backward)

  • 14 Apr2:00 am

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 19 Apr3:50 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 22 Apr6:39 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 25 Apr12:18 pm

    Budha turns direct at 21°18′ Meena

  • 25 Apr6:16 pm

    Shani turns direct at 0°06′ Simha

May 1978

  • 11 May12:00 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 14 May10:55 pm

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 16 May11:04 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 31 May12:31 pm

    Budha enters Vrishabha

June 1978

  • 2 Jun7:33 am

    Mangala enters Simha

  • 2 Jun1:32 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 26 Jun†

  • 11 Jun12:53 am

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 14 Jun10:37 pm

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 15 Jun5:30 am

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 25 Jun2:03 pm

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 25 Jul†

  • 26 Jun11:38 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 29 Jun12:40 pm

    Budha enters Karka

July 1978

  • 6 Jul4:45 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 16 Jul4:20 pm

    Surya enters Karka

  • 20 Jul12:53 am

    Budha enters Simha

  • 25 Jul1:53 am

    Mangala enters Kanya

  • 25 Jul5:49 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

August 1978

  • 2 Aug9:32 am

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 5 Aug4:36 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 9°28′ Simha

  • 5 Aug9:43 am

    Guru enters Karka

  • 9 Aug9:48 pm

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 14 Sep†

  • 12 Aug3:54 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 26 Aug†

  • 17 Aug12:41 am

    Surya enters Simha

  • 21 Aug11:17 am

    Budha enters Karka (moving backward)

  • 26 Aug12:45 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Aug9:11 pm

    Budha turns direct at 26°47′ Karka

  • 31 Aug11:37 am

    Shukra enters Tula

September 1978

  • 4 Sep5:39 pm

    Budha enters Simha

  • 10 Sep10:09 am

    Mangala enters Tula

  • 14 Sep8:01 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 22 Oct†

  • 14 Sep2:55 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 17 Sep12:35 am

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 23 Sep10:13 am

    Budha enters Kanya

October 1978

  • 10 Oct11:38 am

    Budha enters Tula

  • 17 Oct12:31 pm

    Surya enters Tula

  • 18 Oct9:26 am

    Shukra turns retrograde at 29°15′ Tula

  • 22 Oct11:52 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 24 Oct5:58 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 29 Oct11:40 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

November 1978

  • 3 Nov2:28 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 13 Nov†

  • 13 Nov3:08 am

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 15 Nov3:05 pm

    Mangala becomes combust (asta) until 9 Apr†

  • 16 Nov12:20 pm

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 18 Nov4:46 am

    Rahu enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 18 Nov4:46 am

    Ketu enters Kumbha (moving backward)

  • 26 Nov1:43 am

    Guru turns retrograde at 15°30′ Karka

  • 26 Nov3:11 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 28°04′ Vrishchika

  • 28 Nov6:40 pm

    Shukra turns direct at 13°47′ Tula

  • 30 Nov3:38 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 11 Dec†

December 1978

  • 4 Dec9:38 am

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 11 Dec3:05 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 15 Dec9:26 pm

    Budha turns direct at 11°48′ Vrishchika

  • 16 Dec2:58 am

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 25 Dec2:12 am

    Shani turns retrograde at 20°23′ Simha

  • 31 Dec5:44 am

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

† 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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