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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 1999: when each graha changes sign

In 1999, Rahu moves into Karka on 11 Jan; Guru moves into Meena on 13 Jan; Guru moves into Mesha on 26 May. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

Times in Kuala Lumpur (Asia/Kuala Lumpur, UTC+8).

The grahas on 1 January 1999

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

Gochar calendar for 1999

Times in Kuala Lumpur (Asia/Kuala Lumpur, UTC+8). 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 1999

  • 3 Jan3:46 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 11 Jan9:38 pm

    Rahu enters Karka (moving backward)

  • 11 Jan9:38 pm

    Ketu enters Makara (moving backward)

  • 12 Jan7:25 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 22 Feb†

  • 12 Jan5:10 pm

    Mangala enters Tula

  • 13 Jan5:39 am

    Guru enters Meena

  • 14 Jan7:28 pm

    Surya enters Makara

  • 22 Jan10:27 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 24 Jan1:45 am

    Shukra enters Kumbha

February 1999

  • 9 Feb1:59 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 13 Feb8:27 am

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 17 Feb5:06 am

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 22 Feb6:44 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Feb1:11 pm

    Budha enters Meena

March 1999

  • 10 Mar5:10 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 10°13′ Meena

  • 13 Mar12:54 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 26 Mar†

  • 13 Mar4:07 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 15 Mar5:18 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 17 Mar10:05 pm

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 16 Apr†

  • 18 Mar9:36 pm

    Mangala turns retrograde at 18°22′ Tula

  • 25 Mar7:05 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha (moving backward)

  • 26 Mar4:17 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

April 1999

  • 2 Apr5:19 pm

    Budha turns direct at 27°02′ Kumbha

  • 7 Apr3:55 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 10 Apr3:55 am

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 15 May†

  • 11 Apr3:23 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 14 Apr1:45 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 16 Apr10:03 am

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

May 1999

  • 3 May12:58 pm

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 5 May3:23 pm

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 13 May2:16 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 7 Jun†

  • 15 May10:34 am

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 15 May2:49 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 21 May8:55 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 26 May6:58 pm

    Guru enters Mesha

  • 31 May3:36 am

    Shukra enters Karka

June 1999

  • 4 Jun6:25 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 4 Jun2:14 pm

    Mangala turns direct at 0°36′ Tula

  • 7 Jun4:30 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 15 Jun5:07 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 21 Jun8:53 pm

    Budha enters Karka

July 1999

  • 3 Jul7:15 am

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 13 Jul7:32 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 15°38′ Karka

  • 17 Jul3:59 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 19 Jul10:43 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 4 Aug†

  • 30 Jul9:40 am

    Shukra turns retrograde at 11°17′ Simha

August 1999

  • 4 Aug12:27 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 6 Aug11:27 am

    Budha turns direct at 4°44′ Karka

  • 15 Aug5:13 pm

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 25 Aug†

  • 17 Aug12:25 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 24 Aug1:09 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 25 Aug7:32 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 27 Sep†

  • 25 Aug10:20 am

    Guru turns retrograde at 11°08′ Mesha

  • 25 Aug10:12 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Aug2:09 am

    Shukra enters Karka (moving backward)

  • 28 Aug7:15 pm

    Budha enters Simha

  • 30 Aug8:51 am

    Shani turns retrograde at 23°20′ Mesha

September 1999

  • 11 Sep8:24 am

    Shukra turns direct at 24°56′ Karka

  • 13 Sep10:25 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 17 Sep12:23 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 27 Sep7:00 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Sep12:28 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

October 1999

  • 1 Oct10:27 am

    Budha enters Tula

  • 8 Oct6:54 pm

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 18 Oct12:21 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 23 Oct11:17 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

November 1999

  • 3 Nov12:37 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 5 Nov10:58 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 7°53′ Vrishchika

  • 10 Nov5:50 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 21 Nov†

  • 15 Nov4:33 pm

    Budha enters Tula (moving backward)

  • 17 Nov12:07 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 18 Nov1:13 pm

    Mangala enters Makara

  • 21 Nov10:30 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 25 Nov11:55 am

    Budha turns direct at 21°46′ Tula

  • 30 Nov11:01 pm

    Shukra enters Tula

December 1999

  • 6 Dec4:31 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 16 Dec2:45 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 20 Dec11:04 pm

    Guru turns direct at 1°10′ Mesha

  • 22 Dec12:15 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 5 Feb†

  • 26 Dec10:23 am

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 27 Dec12:47 pm

    Mangala enters Kumbha

  • 27 Dec3:00 pm

    Budha enters Dhanu

† 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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