What "The Sky" Means Here
Every planet is constantly moving through the zodiac — the Moon in about a day, Mercury and Venus in a few weeks, outer planets like Saturn taking two and a half years to cross a single sign. A planet's position (or transit) is simply where it sits at a given moment: which sign, how many degrees into that sign, and which of the 27 nakshatras (lunar mansions) it's passing through. This page computes that snapshot for any date you choose, for any location.
Sidereal, Not Tropical
Vedic astrology anchors the zodiac to the actual star field — the sidereal zodiac, using the Lahiri ayanamsa. Most Western sun-sign astrology uses the tropical zodiac instead, anchored to the seasons. The two have drifted apart by roughly 24° over the centuries — about one full sign — so a planet's Vedic sign is typically one sign "behind" the tropical position you might see elsewhere. Neither is wrong; they're different reference frames, and everything on this page (and everywhere on Nyovah) uses the sidereal one.
Reading the Table
Sign & degree
The sign a planet occupies, and its exact degree within that sign (0°–30°). A planet near 29° is about to change signs; one near 0° just entered.
Nakshatra & pada
The finer-grained lunar mansion the planet is passing through — 27 in total, each further divided into 4 padas. This is the same system that anchors a birth chart's Moon nakshatra and the Vimshottari dasha timeline.
Sign lord & nakshatra lord
Every sign and every nakshatra has a ruling planet. These rulerships are the backbone of most Vedic techniques — dignity, yogas, and dasha sequencing all trace back to them.
Motion (direct or retrograde)
Retrograde is an optical effect — from Earth's moving vantage point, a planet can appear to move backward through the zodiac for weeks or months. It's genuine apparent motion, and classically read as a period where that planet's themes turn inward, slow down, or get revisited rather than newly begun.
This is a sky snapshot, not a birth chart. Positions here don't depend on your location — sign, degree and nakshatra are the same for everyone on Earth at a given moment. What does depend on you is the ascendant (Lagna) and which house each planet falls in relative to your birth — that's a personal reading, not a general sky view.
How to Use a Transit
- Tracking a retrograde? Change the date to find when a planet turns retrograde or goes direct again.
- Planning around a specific date? Check the Moon's nakshatra and sign for that day — it's the fastest-moving reference point in the sky.
- Curious what a transit means for you? A general sky position is the same for everyone; how it actually lands depends on where that degree falls in your own birth chart.
The sky tells you what's moving. Your chart tells you what it's moving against — that's where a general transit becomes a personal one.
Life Timing Intelligence
The Sky Is the Same for Everyone. Your Chart Isn't.
Nyovah weighs today's transits against your own birth chart and current dasha to find out what's actually active for you — not just what's moving overhead.
See My Personal Timing →Free sky positions · No account needed to start · Personal transit reading in the app
Frequently Asked Questions
What are planetary positions (transits)?
Where a planet sits in the zodiac right now — its sign, exact degree, and the nakshatra it's passing through. Transits change daily; some planets move degrees a day, others take years to cross one sign.
Why sidereal, not the positions I see elsewhere?
Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsa), anchored to the star field, not the tropical zodiac most Western sources use. The two differ by about 24° — roughly one sign — so a planet's Vedic sign often reads one sign "behind" its tropical position.
What does retrograde mean?
An optical illusion — from Earth's moving vantage point, a planet can appear to move backward through the zodiac for weeks or months. It's real apparent motion, classically read as a period where that planet's themes turn inward or get revisited.
Do positions depend on my location?
No — sign, degree and nakshatra are the same for everyone on Earth at a given moment. Only the ascendant and house placements depend on where and exactly when you're looking from; this page shows sign-level positions only.
Can I check a future or past date?
Yes — pick any date and the page computes that day's planetary positions, useful for an upcoming transit, a retrograde window, or a date that already passed.
Is this free?
Yes — the sky for any date is free and needs no account. Seeing how a transit lands on your own birth chart is a personalised reading, available in the app.