Degrees and longitude in a Kundli

A sign spans 30°. A planet's degree tells how far it has travelled into that sign. Full longitude counts from 0° Aries through the entire 360° zodiac.

Reading the notation

One degree contains 60 angular minutes, written ′. One angular minute contains 60 seconds, written ″. These are subdivisions of an angle, not minutes and seconds on a clock.

For a schematic position of 10° Taurus, the compact longitude is 10 Ta 00′ 00″, and full longitude is 40°00′00″: Aries occupies the preceding 30°. Taurus is still sign 2. The house cannot be known until the lagna is specified.

The chart layout guide lists the two-letter sign abbreviations used in compact longitude.

Boundaries and rounding

At a true sign boundary, 30° of one sign becomes 0° of the next. Displayed seconds are rounded, so a value very close to the end can appear as 30° in the Degree column. The sign, nakshatra and division assignments use the unrounded position. A rounded label does not show the full precision used for that assignment.

Nakshatras and signs have different boundaries. A pada spans 3°20′, while a sign spans 30°. A degree can therefore change pada without changing sign.

Degrees also matter for dignity ranges, combustion and divisions. A late degree does not mean that a planet is partly in the next sign, or that a fixed percentage of the next sign's interpretation should be blended into it.

See the chart and its tables on the Kundli page.