Planetary Position Calculator

The Sun's sidereal position indicates your solar month and has implications for personality, vitality, and authority themes. The Moon's position is the most critical for Vedic purposes — it determines your Rashi (Moon sign), Nakshatra, and entire Dasha timeline. Mars's position reveals current energy levels, conflict potential, and property-related timing. Mercury's position affects communication, commerce, and intellectual activities.

Jupiter's position is closely watched for its impact on wisdom, education, children, and expansion. Venus governs love, beauty, finances, and creative expression. Saturn's position carries the most weight for long-term life structure, discipline, and karmic lessons. Rahu (North Node) and Ketu (South Node) — the shadow planets formed by the Moon's orbital nodes — indicate the axis of desire and detachment, worldly ambition and spiritual growth.

The fundamental difference between Vedic and Western astrology positions is the zodiac system. The tropical zodiac, used in Western astrology, is fixed to the seasons — 0 degrees Aries always begins at the spring equinox. The sidereal zodiac, used in Vedic astrology, is fixed to the actual stars — 0 degrees Aries aligns with the star Spica (Chitra) across the sky.

Due to the precession of the equinoxes (a slow wobble in Earth's axis), the tropical and sidereal zodiacs drift apart by approximately 1 degree every 72 years. Currently, the difference (called Ayanamsa) is approximately 24 degrees. This means if the Sun is at 15 degrees Taurus in the tropical system, it is at approximately 21 degrees Aries in the sidereal system — a completely different sign. Kaala always displays sidereal positions for accurate Vedic work.

Planetary position data in Kaala includes retrograde status — whether a planet appears to be moving backward through the zodiac from Earth's perspective. Retrograde planets are significant in Vedic astrology: they are considered stronger in certain contexts (a retrograde benefic in a Kendra gains Cheshta Bala) but can also produce delayed, internalized, or unconventional results.

Mercury retrogrades approximately three times per year for about three weeks each time. Venus and Mars retrograde less frequently but for longer periods. Jupiter and Saturn retrograde annually for several months. Rahu and Ketu are perpetually retrograde by nature (they always move backward through the zodiac). The speed of a planet also matters — a planet near its stationary point (about to start or end retrograde) is considered particularly powerful because its energy is concentrated.

The Planetary Position Calculator accepts any date from 3000 BCE to 3000 CE, allowing it to serve historical research, birth chart generation for any era, and future transit planning. The Swiss Ephemeris Moshier method used by Kaala maintains accuracy across this entire range without requiring external ephemeris data files.

Common use cases include generating birth chart data for historical figures, checking planetary positions for upcoming dates when planning events (Muhurta), verifying positions for compatibility analysis when one partner's chart is generated on a different platform, and studying planetary cycles and patterns over long time periods. The location input affects only the Moon's position (which moves fast enough for location to matter within hours) and house calculations.