Nakshatra calculator by date of birth

How the nakshatra is found: four steps

1. The Moon's sidereal longitude. The Moon's position at birth is taken from the ephemeris and converted to the sidereal zodiac (Lahiri ayanamsha). The result is a number from 0° to 360°: the longitude counted from the start of Aries.
2. Divide by 13°20′. The circle is split into 27 equal nakshatras of 13°20′. Divide the longitude by 13°20′: the whole part is how many nakshatras the Moon has passed; the next one is its nakshatra.
3. The pada. Every nakshatra has four padas of 3°20′. Divide what is left inside the nakshatra by 3°20′ to get the pada, from 1 to 4.
4. The lord and the first dasha. Each nakshatra has a lord: Ketu, Venus, Sun, Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and round again. That lord opens the first dasha of life.

What a Moon nakshatra is

A nakshatra is one of 27 segments of the zodiac, 13°20′ each. The one the Moon occupied at your birth is your janma nakshatra. Jyotish counts the dashas, the 36-guna compatibility and the first syllable of a traditional name from it. Each one is described in the nakshatra reference.

A worked example

15 May 1990, 08:30, Dubai (UTC+4). The Moon's sidereal longitude is 269°35′, that is 29°35′ Sagittarius. 269°35′ ÷ 13°20′ = 20.22: the Moon has passed 20 nakshatras and stands in the 21st, Uttara Ashadha. Inside it the Moon has covered 2°55′; 2°55′ ÷ 3°20′ = 0.88, so this is the first pada. Uttara Ashadha is ruled by the Sun, so this person's life began in the Sun dasha.

Note that the Moon is in the last degree of Sagittarius. With the Raman ayanamsha it is already in Capricorn, while the nakshatra stays the same, Uttara Ashadha, only in its second pada. Why that happens is explained in the article on the ayanamsha.

Why the birth time matters

The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, so for most dates the birthday is enough. But if the Moon changed nakshatra that day, the result is ambiguous without a time — the calculator tells you and shows both. The lagna changes every two hours and is not calculated without a time.

How to read the result

The pada (a quarter of the nakshatra) refines the character and gives the name syllable. The dasha shows which planet rules the current period of your life; see Vimshottari dasha. In Jyotish the Moon sign matters more than the Sun sign — transits and Sade Sati are counted from it.

Questions

See also

• Rahu, Ketu, Atmakaraka and Darakaraka calculator
• Sade Sati calculator

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-14.