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Panchang · Gochar

Gochar 2023: when each graha changes sign

In 2023, Shani moves into Kumbha on 17 Jan; Guru moves into Mesha on 21 Apr; Rahu moves into Meena on 30 Oct. Below is every sign change, station and asta period of the nine grahas.

Times in Toronto (America/Toronto, EST/EDT).

The grahas on 1 January 2023

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

Gochar calendar for 2023

Times in Toronto (America/Toronto, EST/EDT). 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 2023

  • 1 Jan4:05 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Jan†

  • 12 Jan4:00 pm

    Mangala turns direct at 13°57′ Vrishabha

  • 12 Jan6:46 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 14 Jan10:13 am

    Surya enters Makara

  • 17 Jan7:17 am

    Shani enters Kumbha

  • 18 Jan8:12 am

    Budha turns direct at 13°58′ Dhanu

  • 22 Jan5:22 am

    Shukra enters Kumbha

  • 30 Jan4:29 pm

    Shani becomes combust (asta) until 5 Mar†

February 2023

  • 6 Feb8:57 pm

    Budha enters Makara

  • 12 Feb11:12 pm

    Surya enters Kumbha

  • 15 Feb9:30 am

    Shukra enters Meena

  • 27 Feb6:16 am

    Budha enters Kumbha

  • 27 Feb9:44 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 31 Mar†

March 2023

  • 5 Mar10:08 am

    Shani rises again (asta ends)†

  • 11 Mar9:55 pm

    Shukra enters Mesha

  • 12 Mar7:28 pm

    Mangala enters Mithuna

  • 14 Mar9:02 pm

    Surya enters Meena

  • 16 Mar1:17 am

    Budha enters Meena

  • 27 Mar11:29 pm

    Guru becomes combust (asta) until 26 Apr†

  • 31 Mar5:24 am

    Budha enters Mesha

  • 31 Mar11:43 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

April 2023

  • 6 Apr1:27 am

    Shukra enters Vrishabha

  • 14 Apr5:27 am

    Surya enters Mesha

  • 21 Apr4:34 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 21°26′ Mesha

  • 21 Apr7:38 pm

    Guru enters Mesha

  • 23 Apr2:29 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 9 May†

  • 26 Apr4:19 pm

    Guru rises again (asta ends)†

May 2023

  • 2 May4:18 am

    Shukra enters Mithuna

  • 9 May3:22 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 10 May4:16 am

    Mangala enters Karka

  • 14 May11:17 pm

    Budha turns direct at 11°40′ Mesha

  • 15 May2:13 am

    Surya enters Vrishabha

  • 30 May10:06 am

    Shukra enters Karka

June 2023

  • 7 Jun10:18 am

    Budha enters Vrishabha

  • 15 Jun8:44 am

    Surya enters Mithuna

  • 17 Jun12:54 pm

    Shani turns retrograde at 13°02′ Kumbha

  • 18 Jun9:55 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 13 Jul†

  • 24 Jun3:12 am

    Budha enters Mithuna

  • 30 Jun4:43 pm

    Mangala enters Simha

July 2023

  • 6 Jul6:28 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 8 Jul2:42 am

    Budha enters Karka

  • 13 Jul5:20 pm

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 16 Jul7:34 pm

    Surya enters Karka

  • 22 Jul9:31 pm

    Shukra turns retrograde at 4°25′ Simha

  • 24 Jul6:59 pm

    Budha enters Simha

August 2023

  • 7 Aug1:37 am

    Shukra enters Karka (moving backward)

  • 8 Aug4:24 am

    Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 18 Aug†

  • 17 Aug3:59 am

    Surya enters Simha

  • 18 Aug6:19 am

    Mangala enters Kanya

  • 18 Aug9:48 am

    Shukra rises again (asta ends)†

  • 23 Aug3:58 pm

    Budha turns retrograde at 27°40′ Simha

  • 30 Aug7:49 pm

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 13 Sep†

September 2023

  • 3 Sep9:21 pm

    Shukra turns direct at 18°01′ Karka

  • 4 Sep9:54 am

    Guru turns retrograde at 21°24′ Mesha

  • 13 Sep7:34 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 15 Sep4:21 pm

    Budha turns direct at 13°49′ Simha

  • 17 Sep3:58 am

    Surya enters Kanya

  • 24 Sep7:59 am

    Mangala becomes combust (asta) until 16 Jan†

October 2023

  • 1 Oct11:02 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 13 Nov†

  • 1 Oct11:07 am

    Budha enters Kanya

  • 1 Oct3:28 pm

    Shukra enters Simha

  • 3 Oct8:24 am

    Mangala enters Tula

  • 17 Oct3:57 pm

    Surya enters Tula

  • 18 Oct3:45 pm

    Budha enters Tula

  • 30 Oct8:56 am

    Rahu enters Meena (moving backward)

  • 30 Oct8:56 am

    Ketu enters Kanya (moving backward)

November 2023

  • 2 Nov7:41 pm

    Shukra enters Kanya

  • 4 Nov3:35 am

    Shani turns direct at 6°20′ Kumbha

  • 6 Nov5:53 am

    Budha enters Vrishchika

  • 13 Nov6:02 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 16 Nov12:13 am

    Mangala enters Vrishchika

  • 16 Nov2:46 pm

    Surya enters Vrishchika

  • 26 Nov7:21 pm

    Budha enters Dhanu

  • 29 Nov2:32 pm

    Shukra enters Tula

December 2023

  • 13 Dec2:08 am

    Budha turns retrograde at 14°18′ Dhanu

  • 16 Dec5:25 am

    Surya enters Dhanu

  • 17 Dec1:08 am

    Budha becomes combust (asta) until 28 Dec†

  • 24 Dec8:13 pm

    Shukra enters Vrishchika

  • 27 Dec1:46 pm

    Mangala enters Dhanu

  • 28 Dec12:22 am

    Budha rises again (asta ends)†

  • 28 Dec12:29 am

    Budha enters Vrishchika (moving backward)

  • 30 Dec9:56 pm

    Guru turns direct at 11°23′ Mesha

† 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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