In the last issue we explained how to compute your ascendant. Now we need to place the planets in the chart. To compute the planet degrees, we recommend the readers to follow Ephemeris by N.C. Lahiri. You can get these ephemeris from 1900 till date. You can also get advanced ephemeris by other authors for up to 2050 or 2100. However, if you want to compute horoscope for a date before 1900 or after 2100 then you can get it through a computer which are normally available from year 1 to year 9999. However for dates even beyond this, extra efforts are required & even computer horoscopes need be verified before accepting them as such.

The ephemeris or Panchang is a collection of daily or weekly position of planet positions in a tabular form. The position for a given date and time can be obtained simply by taking average. Averages are normally sufficient for Astrological purposes, but we can not take it as accurate positions of the planet for that date & time. For more accuracy one can go to interpolaxtion techniques using more data available in the ephemeris.

The deviations occur because planets do not move with a regular speed. The speed increase or decreases with time. If the speed of the planet is more in the beginning and less towards the end, the values obtained are slightly more than the actual longitudes because, in actual the planet moves a little more than what it moves on average.

The problem of speed of planet occurs mainly for Moon only because Moon plays the maximum Role in astrological computations.

Example : Compute planet degrees for Native born on 15.1.1970 at 11.30 AM at Delhi :

Please refer "Condensed Ephemeris 1961-71" by NC Lahiri. We get the following degrees listed in the ephemeris.

Note that (-) Sign in the calculation indicates the backward or retrograde motion of the planet The planet degrees are given for 5hr 30min in the morning and time of birth is 11h 30 m. i.e.. 6 hrs Later. So on average we find the planets movement as under.

Mon                                                                                    Mer

12⁰ 52' x 6 hr/24 hr. = 3^o13'                                                       -1⁰ 15' / 4  = (-) 19'

Sun                                          Mars                                      Ven                            Jup                         Sat

2⁰ 2' x 6 hr/ 48 hr = 15'           1⁰ 30'/8 = 11'                      2⁰ 31'/8 = 17'                  12'/ 8 = 1'                      3'/8 = 0'

Rah.                                            Ura                                Nep.                                Plu.

(-)1⁰ 54' x 14.25/31 days=-52'   (-)6' x 14.25/31=(-)3'        45' x 14.25/31=21'        -17' x 14.25/31=(-)8'

 With this the Planet degrees at the time of birth becomes as under :