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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 2016: when each graha changes sign

In 2016, Rahu moves into Simha on 30 Jan; Guru moves into Kanya on 11 Aug. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

Times in Kathmandu (Asia/Kathmandu, UTC+5:45).

The grahas on 1 January 2016

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

Gochar calendar for 2016

Times in Kathmandu (Asia/Kathmandu, UTC+5:45). 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 2016

  • 5 Jan6:50 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 6°58′ Makara

  • 8 Jan10:08 am

    Guru turns retrograde at 29°10′ Simha

  • 9 Jan2:03 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 20 Jan†

  • 14 Jan3:22 pm

    Budha enters Dhanu (moving backward)

  • 15 Jan1:35 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 19 Jan6:31 am

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 20 Jan7:23 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 26 Jan3:35 am

    Budha turns direct at 20°50′ Dhanu

  • 30 Jan3:53 am

    Rahu enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 30 Jan3:53 am

    Ketu enters Kumbha (moving backward)

February 2016

  • 9 Feb3:19 am

    Budha enters Makara

  • 12 Feb3:00 pm

    Shukra enters Makara

  • 13 Feb2:34 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 20 Feb4:44 pm

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

March 2016

  • 2 Mar12:24 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 7 Mar2:02 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 6 Apr†

  • 7 Mar9:17 pm

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 14 Mar11:27 am

    Surya enters Meena

  • 19 Mar4:50 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 25 Mar3:12 pm

    Shani turns retrograde at 22°20′ Vrishchika

April 2016

  • 1 Apr3:35 am

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 3 Apr3:57 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 6 Apr8:42 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 13 Apr7:58 pm

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 17 Apr5:54 pm

    Mangala turns retrograde at 14°49′ Vrishchika

  • 25 Apr11:02 am

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 28 Apr11:04 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 29°31′ Mesha

  • 30 Apr3:58 pm

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 13 Jul†

May 2016

  • 1 May12:18 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 17 May†

  • 9 May6:17 pm

    Guru turns direct at 19°10′ Simha

  • 14 May4:52 pm

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 17 May10:27 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 19 May7:57 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 22 May7:05 pm

    Budha turns direct at 20°16′ Mesha

June 2016

  • 8 Jun10:04 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 13 Jun5:47 am

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 14 Jun11:30 pm

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 18 Jun12:23 am

    Mangala enters Tula (moving backward)

  • 25 Jun4:40 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 20 Jul†

  • 27 Jun8:20 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 30 Jun5:27 am

    Mangala turns direct at 28°58′ Tula

July 2016

  • 7 Jul3:47 pm

    Shukra enters Karka

  • 11 Jul9:58 am

    Budha enters Karka

  • 12 Jul2:07 pm

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 13 Jul1:53 pm

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 16 Jul10:25 am

    Surya enters Karka

  • 20 Jul7:29 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 27 Jul7:23 am

    Budha enters Simha

August 2016

  • 1 Aug1:40 am

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 11 Aug9:21 pm

    Guru enters Kanya

  • 13 Aug4:08 pm

    Shani turns direct at 15°41′ Vrishchika

  • 16 Aug6:50 pm

    Surya enters Simha

  • 19 Aug5:22 pm

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 25 Aug12:05 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 30 Aug6:48 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 4°59′ Kanya

September 2016

  • 6 Sep9:51 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 20 Sep†

  • 9 Sep6:18 pm

    Budha enters Simha (moving backward)

  • 12 Sep1:53 am

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 10 Oct†

  • 16 Sep6:47 pm

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 18 Sep7:53 am

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 19 Sep12:17 am

    Shukra enters Tula

  • 20 Sep1:35 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 22 Sep11:15 am

    Budha turns direct at 20°44′ Simha

October 2016

  • 3 Oct6:10 pm

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 8 Oct7:08 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 21 Nov†

  • 10 Oct7:57 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

  • 13 Oct3:40 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 17 Oct6:43 am

    Surya enters Tula

  • 21 Oct2:32 pm

    Budha enters Tula

November 2016

  • 1 Nov8:49 am

    Mangala enters Makara

  • 7 Nov12:11 pm

    Shukra enters Dhanu

  • 9 Nov12:52 am

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 16 Nov6:29 am

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 21 Nov11:00 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 24 Nov12:07 am

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 27 Dec†

  • 28 Nov10:25 pm

    Budha enters Dhanu

December 2016

  • 2 Dec6:55 pm

    Shukra enters Makara

  • 11 Dec7:06 pm

    Mangala enters Kumbha

  • 15 Dec9:07 pm

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 19 Dec4:39 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 21°02′ Dhanu

  • 23 Dec10:40 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 3 Jan†

  • 27 Dec9:25 am

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 29 Dec2:59 am

    Shukra enters Kumbha

† 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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