One of the 27 lunar mansions of Vedic astrology, each 13°20′ of the sidereal zodiac. Where Western astrology divides the sky by the Sun into 12 signs, this system divides it by the Moon into 27 stalls — which is why it changes roughly every 24 hours rather than every month.

Why is my nakshatra different from my Western moon sign?

Because of the ayanamsa — the offset between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, currently about 24.22°. It is not a disagreement between schools but a different zero point, and it grows by roughly 50 arcseconds a year through the precession of the equinoxes. We print the value we used so the difference is arithmetic rather than mysterious.

A quarter of a nakshatra — 3°20′ each, so 108 in total across the zodiac. The pada decides which navamsa sign your Moon falls in, and it is the part most calculators skip. This one gives it, plus how far through the pada you are.

Are all nakshatras equally long?

No. The Moon's orbit is elliptical, so it crosses a mansion faster near perigee. Computed across 2020–2030, Rohini averages 24.88 hours and Vishakha only 23.76 — a spread of 1.047 to one. Sites that quote a flat 24 hours are averaging.

What is a Vimshottari dasha balance?

The ruler of your birth nakshatra governs the first period of your life, and the fraction of the mansion the Moon had already crossed tells you how much of that period was already spent before you were born. The whole 120-year sequence unrolls from that one number — we compute it here rather than charging for it.

Nakshatra calculator

The 27 lunar mansions — your nakshatra, your pada, and the ayanamsa we subtracted to get there, so you can see exactly why the Vedic answer differs from the Western one.

The Moon right now · 30 July 2026, 01:08 UTC

Shravana

pada 3 · 7.791° into the mansion · ruled by Moon

Entered 29 Jul, 09:51, leaves 30 Jul, 11:57 UTC — 26.1 hours in this mansion.

A nakshatra lasts about a day, so the time matters more here than it does for a moon sign. Without it we assume midday and say so.

Computed across 2020–2030, published nowhere else

The mansions are not equal in time

Every source states that the Moon spends about 24 hours in a nakshatra. The mansions are equal in space — 13°20′ each, exactly — but the Moon does not travel at a constant speed. Its orbit is elliptical, so it crosses faster near perigee. Over 48,205 sampled positions, Rohini averages 24.88 hours and Vishakha only 23.76 — a ratio of 1.047 to one against the 24.29-hour mean.

Honest caveat: this reflects where the Moon’s apogee currently sits, and the line of apsides rotates with a period of about 8.85 years. So the ordering shifts over decades rather than being a permanent property of each mansion — which is itself worth knowing, and is why we give the window for your specific date above.

All 27 nakshatras

Ketu · 7-year dasha

Ashwini A horse's head

Venus · 20-year dasha

Bharani The yoni, a bearer of burdens

Sun · 6-year dasha

Krittika A blade, a flame

Moon · 10-year dasha

Rohini An ox-cart, a temple

Mars · 7-year dasha

Mrigashira A deer's head

Rahu · 18-year dasha

Ardra A teardrop, a diamond

Jupiter · 16-year dasha

Punarvasu A quiver of arrows

Saturn · 19-year dasha

Pushya A cow’s udder, a lotus

Mercury · 17-year dasha

Ashlesha A coiled serpent

Ketu · 7-year dasha

Magha A throne room

Venus · 20-year dasha

Purva Phalguni The front legs of a bed

Sun · 6-year dasha

Uttara Phalguni The back legs of a bed

Moon · 10-year dasha

Hasta An open hand

Mars · 7-year dasha

Chitra A bright jewel

Rahu · 18-year dasha

Swati A young shoot in the wind

Jupiter · 16-year dasha

Vishakha A triumphal arch

Saturn · 19-year dasha

Anuradha A lotus, a staff

Mercury · 17-year dasha

Jyeshtha An earring, an umbrella

Ketu · 7-year dasha

Mula A bundle of roots

Venus · 20-year dasha

Purva Ashadha A fan, a winnowing basket

Sun · 6-year dasha

Uttara Ashadha An elephant's tusk

Moon · 10-year dasha

Shravana An ear, three footprints

Mars · 7-year dasha

Dhanishta A drum, a flute

Rahu · 18-year dasha

Shatabhisha An empty circle, a hundred healers

Jupiter · 16-year dasha

Purva Bhadrapada A funeral cot, two front legs

Saturn · 19-year dasha

Uttara Bhadrapada Two back legs of a cot, a serpent

Mercury · 17-year dasha

Revati A fish, a drum for keeping time

How the system is built

Western astrology cuts the sky by the Sun: twelve signs of 30°, each lasting about a month. The nakshatra system cuts the same circle by the Moon: 27 mansions of 13°20′, each lasting about a day. Neither is a subdivision of the other, and the two do not line up — 27 does not divide into 12.

The number 27 comes from the sidereal month. The Moon returns to the same star in 27.32 days, so 27 stalls of roughly one day each tile the circle almost exactly. Each mansion then splits into four padas of 3°20′, giving 108 divisions in total — the same 108 that recurs throughout Indian tradition.

What the classifications mean

Each nakshatra carries a set of attributes used in matching and timing: a gana (Deva, Manushya or Rakshasa — divine, human or fierce temperament), a yoni (an animal, used for compatibility), a caste, and a ruling deity. These are traditional classifications recorded in the classical texts, not findings, and we label them as such.

The one part with real mechanical consequence is the ruling planet, because it sets your dasha sequence — and that, unlike the temperament labels, is a calculation you can check.

How this was produced

Sidereal lunar longitude = tropical longitude (from the principal terms of lunar theory) minus the Lahiri ayanamsa, computed on the date as 23.85° at J2000 plus 50.29″ per year. Mansion = longitude ÷ 13°20′, pada = the quarter within it. Entry and exit times by bisection. Dasha balance from the fraction of the mansion already crossed.

Our ayanamsa for 2026 comes out at 24.22°, matching the published Lahiri value.

Lunar longitude is good to about 0.3°, which is roughly 30 minutes of Moon travel — near a mansion boundary treat the result as uncertain. Times are UTC. Other ayanamsas exist (Raman, Krishnamurti) and will shift the answer by up to a degree.

Sources: Lahiri ayanamsa as adopted by the Indian Calendar Reform Committee (1955); Classical nakshatra attributes from the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra tradition

Range: Any date; transit statistics sampled 2020–2030 · Full method and stated accuracy

Western moon sign The tropical calculation, with the exact hours the Moon held the sign. Sun, Moon and rising The Western trio, each labelled with how much your birth time decides it. The calculation Formulas, ayanamsa and the accuracy we claim for each figure.