The tradition

Vedic astrology

Jyotisha measures the sky against the fixed stars rather than against the equinox, and reads a life through periods rather than only through transits. Both of those are calculations, and both are easy to get quietly wrong.

Sidereal, and by how much

The equinox drifts against the stars by about fifty arcseconds a year. The tropical zodiac follows the equinox; the sidereal zodiac follows the stars. The gap between them — the ayanamsa — is now about 24°14′, which is most of a sign.

That is why your Indian Rasi is usually one sign earlier than the star sign a magazine gave you. Neither is a mistake; they are measuring from different origins, and EnteAstro shows both side by side rather than implying one is wrong.

Nakshatra, from the Moon itself

The 27 Nakshatras divide the circle into arcs of 13°20′, each with four Padas of 3°20′. Your Nakshatra is decided by where the Moon actually was — not by your birth month, and not by a table. The Moon moves about thirteen degrees a day, so a few hours genuinely change it.

Dasha begins before you do

This is the detail most software gets wrong. A life does not begin at the start of a Mahadasha; it begins wherever the Moon happened to be inside its Nakshatra. A Moon two thirds of the way through Rohini is born with one third of a ten-year Moon period left — three years and four months, not ten. Starting a full period on the birth date throws every subsequent date off by up to two decades.

EnteAstro computes the balance from the Moon's actual position, shows the arithmetic, and gives Mahadasha, Antardasha and Pratyantardasha with real dates.

Drishti is not a Western aspect

Graha drishti is counted in whole signs and has no orb: a planet at 29° of a sign aspects the same signs as one at 1°. It is also asymmetric — Saturn aspects the third sign from itself, and what stands there does not aspect Saturn back. Western aspects are always mutual and always measured in degrees. Sharing code between the two is the fastest way to make both wrong, so EnteAstro does not.

How EnteAstro calculates →