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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1988: when each graha changes sign

In 1988, Guru moves into Mesha on 3 Feb; Rahu moves into Kumbha on 6 Mar; Guru moves into Vrishabha on 19 Jun. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

The grahas on 1 January 1988

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

Gochar calendar for 1988

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 1988

  • 1 Jan11:49 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 6 Jan3:08 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 10 Jan5:38 pm

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 14 Jan9:08 pm

    Surya enters Makara

  • 15 Jan1:24 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Jan4:55 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

February 1988

  • 2 Feb11:47 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 4°23′ Kumbha

  • 3 Feb1:48 am

    Guru enters Mesha

  • 4 Feb11:26 am

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 5 Feb5:08 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 17 Feb†

  • 9 Feb3:13 pm

    Budha enters Makara (moving backward)

  • 13 Feb6:40 am

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 13 Feb10:06 am

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 17 Feb4:17 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 23 Feb11:00 pm

    Budha turns direct at 18°59′ Makara

March 1988

  • 1 Mar2:00 am

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 6 Mar10:28 pm

    Rahu enters Kumbha (moving backward)

  • 6 Mar10:28 pm

    Ketu enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 11 Mar10:42 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 14 Mar6:58 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 28 Mar3:19 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 28 Mar6:21 pm

    Mangala enters Makara

April 1988

  • 1 Apr11:50 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 6 Apr7:35 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 3 May†

  • 11 Apr7:05 am

    Shani turns retrograde at 8°52′ Dhanu

  • 13 Apr3:27 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 17 Apr11:43 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 18 Apr3:22 am

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 18 May†

May 1988

  • 1 May6:30 pm

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 2 May3:37 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 3 May11:04 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 12 May6:41 pm

    Mangala enters Kumbha

  • 14 May12:18 pm

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 18 May4:50 am

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 22 May6:55 pm

    Shukra turns retrograde at 6°46′ Mithuna

  • 23 May5:49 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

June 1988

  • 1 Jun4:12 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 3°05′ Mithuna

  • 4 Jun10:24 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 21 Jun†

  • 8 Jun2:51 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 18 Jun†

  • 10 Jun8:05 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishabha (moving backward)

  • 10 Jun11:51 pm

    Budha enters Vrishabha (moving backward)

  • 14 Jun6:53 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 18 Jun8:14 am

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 19 Jun10:31 pm

    Guru enters Vrishabha

  • 21 Jun10:57 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 25 Jun4:10 am

    Budha turns direct at 24°28′ Vrishabha

July 1988

  • 1 Jul9:29 am

    Mangala enters Meena

  • 4 Jul7:40 pm

    Shukra turns direct at 20°14′ Vrishabha

  • 6 Jul11:10 pm

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 16 Jul5:45 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 21 Jul1:58 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 17 Aug†

  • 26 Jul1:58 am

    Budha enters Karka

  • 29 Jul7:30 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

August 1988

  • 9 Aug3:47 pm

    Budha enters Simha

  • 16 Aug2:10 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 17 Aug9:45 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Aug8:05 pm

    Mangala turns retrograde at 17°46′ Meena

  • 26 Aug8:40 pm

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 30 Aug4:10 pm

    Shani turns direct at 2°14′ Dhanu

September 1988

  • 1 Sep3:41 pm

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 16 Sep2:06 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 20 Sep5:14 pm

    Budha enters Tula

  • 24 Sep7:11 pm

    Guru turns retrograde at 12°26′ Vrishabha

  • 29 Sep3:06 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 3°22′ Tula

  • 29 Sep6:32 am

    Shukra enters Simha

October 1988

  • 5 Oct4:15 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 17 Oct†

  • 6 Oct12:01 pm

    Budha enters Kanya (moving backward)

  • 17 Oct2:02 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 17 Oct5:32 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 20 Oct10:52 am

    Budha turns direct at 17°57′ Kanya

  • 24 Oct10:43 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 28 Oct10:40 am

    Mangala turns direct at 6°11′ Meena

November 1988

  • 2 Nov4:54 pm

    Budha enters Tula

  • 7 Nov2:15 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 26 Dec†

  • 16 Nov1:47 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 18 Nov4:06 pm

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 21 Nov4:16 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

December 1988

  • 10 Dec1:36 am

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 12 Jan†

  • 10 Dec5:18 pm

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 12 Dec9:59 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 15 Dec4:23 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 26 Dec5:51 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 29 Dec7:19 pm

    Budha enters Makara

† 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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