Gochar 2038: planet transit calendar · School of Vedic Sciences, FORE

The grahas on 1 January 2038

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

Gochar calendar for 2038

Times in Houston (America/Chicago, CST/CDT). 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 2038

5 Jan4:12 am
Budha enters Dhanu
8 Jan6:34 pm
Shukra rises again (asta ends)^†
14 Jan5:25 am
Surya enters Makara
17 Jan6:32 am
Guru enters Mithuna (moving backward)
19 Jan8:12 am
Mangala enters Vrishabha
21 Jan7:59 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 1 Mar^†
24 Jan4:21 am
Shukra turns direct at 11°45′ Dhanu
25 Jan4:41 pm
Budha enters Makara

February 2038

12 Feb2:11 pm
Budha enters Kumbha
12 Feb6:25 pm
Surya enters Kumbha
28 Feb5:19 am
Shukra enters Makara
28 Feb9:25 pm
Budha enters Meena

March 2038

1 Mar5:11 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
14 Mar4:17 pm
Surya enters Meena
15 Mar1:08 pm
Guru turns direct at 25°20′ Mithuna
18 Mar1:06 am
Budha turns retrograde at 17°59′ Meena
20 Mar8:06 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 3 Apr^†
27 Mar4:55 pm
Mangala enters Mithuna
30 Mar5:38 pm
Shukra enters Kumbha

April 2038

3 Apr10:07 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
10 Apr7:12 am
Budha turns direct at 5°26′ Meena
14 Apr12:45 am
Surya enters Mesha
26 Apr6:33 pm
Shukra enters Meena

May 2038

7 May11:11 pm
Budha enters Mesha
11 May1:53 am
Shani turns direct at 15°00′ Simha
11 May9:31 am
Guru enters Karka
14 May9:34 pm
Surya enters Vrishabha
19 May3:26 pm
Mangala enters Karka
20 May7:54 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 13 Jun^†
22 May4:48 pm
Shukra enters Mesha
24 May5:21 pm
Budha enters Vrishabha

June 2038

7 Jun2:09 pm
Budha enters Mithuna
13 Jun6:40 pm
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
15 Jun4:06 am
Surya enters Mithuna
17 Jun2:27 am
Shukra enters Vrishabha
23 Jun3:55 pm
Budha enters Karka

July 2038

8 Jul2:16 pm
Mangala enters Simha
12 Jul3:41 am
Shukra enters Mithuna
16 Jul2:55 pm
Surya enters Karka
19 Jul12:07 am
Guru becomes combust (asta) until 17 Aug^†
21 Jul1:57 am
Budha turns retrograde at 24°11′ Karka
27 Jul2:20 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 11 Aug^†

August 2038

5 Aug9:24 pm
Shukra enters Karka
11 Aug5:56 pm
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
14 Aug3:49 am
Budha turns direct at 12°40′ Karka
16 Aug11:18 pm
Surya enters Simha
17 Aug8:20 pm
Guru rises again (asta ends)^†
25 Aug5:14 am
Shani becomes combust (asta) until 29 Sep^†
25 Aug2:08 pm
Mangala enters Kanya
30 Aug7:57 am
Shukra enters Simha
31 Aug4:50 pm
Budha enters Simha
31 Aug10:57 pm
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 5 Oct^†

September 2038

9 Sep1:03 am
Mangala becomes combust (asta) until 26 Dec^†
10 Sep1:48 am
Shukra becomes combust (asta) until 26 Nov^†
16 Sep2:19 pm
Budha enters Kanya
16 Sep11:16 pm
Surya enters Kanya
23 Sep12:34 pm
Shukra enters Kanya
29 Sep1:49 pm
Shani rises again (asta ends)^†

October 2038

4 Oct3:44 am
Budha enters Tula
5 Oct2:32 pm
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
7 Oct2:57 am
Guru enters Simha
10 Oct1:09 pm
Mangala enters Tula
17 Oct11:18 am
Surya enters Tula
17 Oct1:14 pm
Shukra enters Tula
22 Oct6:39 am
Shani enters Kanya
25 Oct2:28 am
Budha enters Vrishchika

November 2038

10 Nov10:55 am
Shukra enters Vrishchika
12 Nov8:55 am
Budha turns retrograde at 15°01′ Vrishchika
16 Nov10:12 am
Surya enters Vrishchika
17 Nov9:19 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 28 Nov^†
23 Nov8:09 am
Mangala enters Vrishchika
26 Nov5:07 pm
Shukra rises again (asta ends)^†
28 Nov11:35 am
Budha rises again (asta ends)^†
28 Nov5:54 pm
Budha enters Tula (moving backward)

December 2038

2 Dec6:30 am
Budha turns direct at 28°50′ Tula
4 Dec8:58 am
Shukra enters Dhanu
6 Dec1:46 am
Budha enters Vrishchika
16 Dec12:55 am
Surya enters Dhanu
17 Dec2:22 am
Guru turns retrograde at 7°04′ Simha
26 Dec1:18 pm
Mangala rises again (asta ends)^†
28 Dec7:22 am
Shukra enters Makara
30 Dec4:51 am
Budha enters Dhanu
31 Dec2:18 am
Budha becomes combust (asta) until 12 Feb^†

† 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 2038: when each graha changes sign