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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1996: when each graha changes sign

In 1996, Shani moves into Meena on 16 Feb; Guru moves into Makara on 25 Dec. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

Times in Houston (America/Chicago, CST/CDT).

The grahas on 1 January 1996

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

Gochar calendar for 1996

Times in Houston (America/Chicago, CST/CDT). 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 1996

  • 1 Jan1:19 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 9 Jan3:50 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 11°22′ Makara

  • 9 Jan8:37 pm

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 12 Jan8:30 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 24 Jan†

  • 14 Jan10:44 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 22 Jan1:46 am

    Budha enters Dhanu (moving backward)

  • 24 Jan3:54 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 30 Jan4:17 am

    Budha turns direct at 25°19′ Dhanu

February 1996

  • 3 Feb3:21 pm

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 7 Feb9:39 am

    Mangala enters Kumbha

  • 8 Feb5:38 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 12 Feb11:41 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 16 Feb5:33 am

    Shani enters Meena

  • 29 Feb7:53 am

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 29 Feb10:09 am

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 3 Apr†

March 1996

  • 3 Mar7:44 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 12 Mar1:34 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 10 Apr†

  • 13 Mar8:34 pm

    Surya enters Meena

  • 16 Mar10:46 am

    Mangala enters Meena

  • 20 Mar8:30 pm

    Budha enters Meena

  • 28 Mar2:34 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

April 1996

  • 3 Apr8:24 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 4 Apr7:31 pm

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 10 Apr3:25 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 13 Apr6:06 am

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 23 Apr10:20 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 24 Apr8:21 am

    Mangala enters Mesha

May 1996

  • 3 May5:39 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 4°50′ Vrishabha

  • 3 May10:10 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 4 May10:19 am

    Guru turns retrograde at 23°51′ Dhanu

  • 6 May9:46 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 23 May†

  • 14 May3:01 am

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 16 May12:15 am

    Budha enters Mesha (moving backward)

  • 20 May1:06 am

    Shukra turns retrograde at 4°30′ Mithuna

  • 22 May8:40 am

    Mangala rises again (asta ends)†

  • 23 May1:00 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 27 May2:02 pm

    Budha turns direct at 25°51′ Mesha

June 1996

  • 3 Jun7:03 pm

    Mangala enters Vrishabha

  • 4 Jun5:41 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha (moving backward)

  • 5 Jun8:47 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 15 Jun†

  • 7 Jun5:40 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 14 Jun9:39 am

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 15 Jun2:00 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Jun10:14 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 24 Jul†

  • 28 Jun11:59 pm

    Budha enters Mithuna

July 1996

  • 2 Jul1:52 am

    Shukra turns direct at 17°58′ Vrishabha

  • 13 Jul6:07 am

    Budha enters Karka

  • 15 Jul8:32 pm

    Surya enters Karka

  • 16 Jul10:27 am

    Mangala enters Mithuna

  • 18 Jul2:56 pm

    Shani turns retrograde at 13°36′ Meena

  • 24 Jul7:01 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Jul6:01 pm

    Budha enters Simha

  • 30 Jul5:23 am

    Shukra enters Mithuna

August 1996

  • 16 Aug4:57 am

    Surya enters Simha

  • 19 Aug2:05 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 30 Aug8:04 pm

    Mangala enters Karka

September 1996

  • 1 Sep2:34 am

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 3 Sep9:54 am

    Guru turns direct at 14°01′ Dhanu

  • 4 Sep12:46 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 9°41′ Kanya

  • 11 Sep2:47 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 24 Sep†

  • 16 Sep4:52 am

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 18 Sep9:46 am

    Budha enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 24 Sep1:38 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Sep12:08 pm

    Budha turns direct at 25°11′ Simha

  • 28 Sep12:57 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

October 1996

  • 4 Oct7:43 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 12 Oct11:12 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 27 Nov†

  • 16 Oct4:49 pm

    Surya enters Tula

  • 19 Oct3:15 am

    Mangala enters Simha

  • 23 Oct4:02 am

    Budha enters Tula

  • 24 Oct3:22 am

    Shukra enters Kanya

November 1996

  • 10 Nov11:31 am

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 15 Nov3:34 pm

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 17 Nov6:54 pm

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 27 Nov4:10 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 30 Nov2:17 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

December 1996

  • 3 Dec7:09 am

    Shani turns direct at 6°48′ Meena

  • 12 Dec12:21 am

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 15 Dec6:10 am

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 17 Dec6:03 am

    Mangala enters Kanya

  • 23 Dec1:45 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 25°25′ Dhanu

  • 25 Dec8:00 pm

    Guru enters Makara

  • 27 Dec4:37 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 7 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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