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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 2001: when each graha changes sign

In 2001, Guru moves into Mithuna on 16 Jun. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

Times in Durban (Africa/Johannesburg, UTC+2).

The grahas on 1 January 2001

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

Gochar calendar for 2001

Times in Durban (Africa/Johannesburg, UTC+2). 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 2001

  • 6 Jan10:39 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 14 Jan1:43 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 17 Jan12:18 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 25 Jan2:53 am

    Shani turns direct at 0°11′ Vrishabha

  • 25 Jan10:53 am

    Guru turns direct at 7°19′ Vrishabha

  • 25 Jan7:58 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 27 Jan2:24 am

    Shukra enters Meena

February 2001

  • 3 Feb11:02 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 4 Feb3:57 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 6°50′ Kumbha

  • 6 Feb8:19 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 18 Feb†

  • 12 Feb2:44 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 13 Feb12:18 pm

    Budha enters Makara (moving backward)

  • 18 Feb9:35 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 25 Feb5:41 pm

    Budha turns direct at 21°32′ Makara

March 2001

  • 9 Mar3:05 am

    Shukra turns retrograde at 23°52′ Meena

  • 11 Mar10:10 pm

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 14 Mar11:40 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 25 Mar6:32 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 4 Apr†

April 2001

  • 2 Apr6:34 pm

    Budha enters Meena

  • 4 Apr6:23 am

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 9 Apr1:58 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 6 May†

  • 10 Apr2:45 pm

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 13 Apr8:13 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 18 Apr11:19 pm

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 20 Apr6:35 am

    Shukra turns direct at 7°35′ Meena

May 2001

  • 3 May4:35 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 6 May12:08 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 7 May3:36 pm

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 12 Jun†

  • 11 May6:03 pm

    Mangala turns retrograde at 5°11′ Dhanu

  • 14 May5:05 pm

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 22 May3:48 pm

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 30 May11:14 am

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 29 Jun†

  • 30 May8:23 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

June 2001

  • 4 Jun7:21 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 6°05′ Mithuna

  • 8 Jun5:17 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 25 Jun†

  • 10 Jun7:56 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika (moving backward)

  • 12 Jun4:44 pm

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 Jun11:39 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 16 Jun4:01 am

    Guru enters Mithuna

  • 19 Jun12:27 pm

    Budha enters Vrishabha (moving backward)

  • 25 Jun4:58 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Jun7:49 am

    Budha turns direct at 27°23′ Vrishabha

  • 29 Jun6:56 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 30 Jun1:57 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

July 2001

  • 6 Jul8:19 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 16 Jul10:28 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 20 Jul12:48 am

    Mangala turns direct at 21°14′ Vrishchika

  • 24 Jul2:47 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 20 Aug†

  • 27 Jul5:36 am

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 27 Jul12:38 pm

    Budha enters Karka

August 2001

  • 11 Aug2:54 am

    Budha enters Simha

  • 16 Aug6:48 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 20 Aug5:12 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 22 Aug2:08 am

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 26 Aug5:47 pm

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 28 Aug2:23 am

    Budha enters Kanya

September 2001

  • 16 Sep3:17 am

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 16 Sep6:42 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 20 Sep12:45 pm

    Budha enters Tula

  • 27 Sep1:34 am

    Shani turns retrograde at 21°05′ Vrishabha

October 2001

  • 1 Oct9:22 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 5°49′ Tula

  • 8 Oct8:41 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 20 Oct†

  • 10 Oct3:00 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 11 Oct1:13 pm

    Budha enters Kanya (moving backward)

  • 17 Oct6:39 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 18 Oct5:31 pm

    Mangala enters Makara

  • 20 Oct8:05 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 23 Oct2:23 am

    Budha turns direct at 20°19′ Kanya

November 2001

  • 2 Nov5:18 pm

    Guru turns retrograde at 21°49′ Mithuna

  • 3 Nov5:15 pm

    Budha enters Tula

  • 3 Nov6:00 pm

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 10 Nov2:55 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 29 Dec†

  • 16 Nov6:27 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 22 Nov11:44 pm

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 27 Nov4:18 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 30 Nov1:35 pm

    Mangala enters Kumbha

December 2001

  • 3 Dec10:32 pm

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 25 Feb†

  • 12 Dec12:46 am

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 15 Dec9:06 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 21 Dec12:43 pm

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 29 Dec8:44 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 30 Dec11:41 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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