Gochar 1997: planet transit calendar · School of Vedic Sciences, FORE

The grahas on 1 January 1997

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

Gochar calendar for 1997

Times in London (Europe/London, GMT/BST). 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 1997

5 Jan6:53 am
Shukra enters Dhanu
5 Jan12:34 pm
Guru becomes combust (asta) until 2 Feb^†
7 Jan11:53 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
12 Jan8:41 pm
Budha turns direct at 9°10′ Dhanu
13 Jan10:51 pm
Surya enters Makara
29 Jan5:52 am
Shukra enters Makara

February 1997

2 Feb2:59 pm
Guru rises again (asta ends)^†
4 Feb7:52 pm
Budha enters Makara
6 Feb12:32 am
Mangala turns retrograde at 12°07′ Kanya
12 Feb11:48 am
Surya enters Kumbha
21 Feb10:30 am
Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 11 May^†
21 Feb4:03 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 26 Mar^†
22 Feb5:11 am
Shukra enters Kumbha
24 Feb12:52 pm
Budha enters Kumbha

March 1997

13 Mar12:58 am
Budha enters Meena
13 Mar3:26 pm
Shani becomes combust (asta) until 17 Apr^†
14 Mar8:42 am
Surya enters Meena
18 Mar6:08 am
Shukra enters Meena
24 Mar10:49 pm
Mangala enters Simha (moving backward)
26 Mar4:32 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
28 Mar2:18 pm
Budha enters Mesha

April 1997

11 Apr10:48 am
Shukra enters Mesha
13 Apr6:15 pm
Surya enters Mesha
15 Apr1:00 am
Budha turns retrograde at 15°50′ Mesha
17 Apr9:36 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 3 May^†
17 Apr10:47 am
Shani rises again (asta ends)^†
27 Apr8:13 pm
Mangala turns direct at 22°55′ Simha

May 1997

3 May3:20 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
5 May5:46 pm
Shukra enters Vrishabha
8 May7:05 pm
Budha turns direct at 5°40′ Mesha
11 May1:42 am
Shukra rises again (asta ends)^†
14 May3:11 pm
Surya enters Vrishabha
30 May4:04 am
Shukra enters Mithuna

June 1997

3 Jun3:36 pm
Mangala enters Kanya
5 Jun7:24 am
Budha enters Vrishabha
10 Jun1:06 am
Guru turns retrograde at 28°07′ Makara
13 Jun5:25 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 8 Jul^†
14 Jun9:50 pm
Surya enters Mithuna
21 Jun1:30 am
Budha enters Mithuna
23 Jun5:39 pm
Shukra enters Karka
24 Jun11:41 am
Rahu enters Simha (moving backward)
24 Jun11:41 am
Ketu enters Kumbha (moving backward)

July 1997

5 Jul2:26 am
Budha enters Karka
8 Jul8:57 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
16 Jul8:45 am
Surya enters Karka
18 Jul11:16 am
Shukra enters Simha
22 Jul12:35 pm
Budha enters Simha

August 1997

1 Aug5:24 pm
Shani turns retrograde at 26°32′ Meena
4 Aug3:24 am
Mangala enters Tula
12 Aug10:56 am
Shukra enters Kanya
16 Aug5:09 pm
Surya enters Simha
17 Aug8:48 pm
Budha turns retrograde at 22°25′ Simha
25 Aug12:30 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 7 Sep^†

September 1997

6 Sep8:09 pm
Shukra enters Tula
7 Sep6:10 pm
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
10 Sep2:42 am
Budha turns direct at 8°53′ Simha
16 Sep5:05 pm
Surya enters Kanya
20 Sep12:39 am
Mangala enters Vrishchika
25 Sep11:15 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 6 Nov^†
28 Sep7:42 pm
Budha enters Kanya

October 1997

2 Oct9:29 pm
Shukra enters Vrishchika
8 Oct5:53 am
Guru turns direct at 18°16′ Makara
15 Oct8:09 pm
Budha enters Tula
17 Oct5:03 am
Surya enters Tula
30 Oct8:12 am
Shukra enters Dhanu
31 Oct11:08 pm
Mangala enters Dhanu

November 1997

3 Nov2:52 pm
Budha enters Vrishchika
6 Nov9:48 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
16 Nov3:51 am
Surya enters Vrishchika
24 Nov11:02 pm
Budha enters Dhanu

December 1997

2 Dec4:36 am
Shukra enters Makara
7 Dec4:55 pm
Budha turns retrograde at 9°33′ Dhanu
10 Dec8:26 am
Mangala enters Makara
11 Dec7:44 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 22 Dec^†
15 Dec6:29 pm
Surya enters Dhanu
16 Dec10:59 am
Shani turns direct at 19°43′ Meena
18 Dec11:31 am
Budha enters Vrishchika (moving backward)
22 Dec6:38 pm
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
26 Dec9:19 pm
Shukra turns retrograde at 10°07′ Makara
27 Dec11:41 am
Budha turns direct at 23°14′ 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.

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.

Gochar 1997: when each graha changes sign