What today’s nakshatra tells you

A place among the stars

The 27 nakshatras divide the sidereal zodiac into equal stretches of 13°20′, counted from Ashwini at 0° along the ecliptic. Today’s nakshatra names the stretch that holds the Moon. It is a coarse reading of the Moon’s longitude: where the Moon stands among the stars, to within 13°20′.

The Moon moves on average about 13.2° a day against the stars, so it spends roughly a day in each nakshatra and passes through all 27 in about 27.3 days. That circuit is shorter than the 29.5-day cycle of phases, as the Moon’s two months explains. The nakshatra therefore says nothing directly about the phase. The phase follows the Moon’s angle from the Sun, which is what the tithi counts.

A sunrise snapshot

A Panchang names the nakshatra in force at local sunrise, then gives the moment the Moon reaches the next boundary. For Delhi on 2 October 2026:

The dashboard row for that date reads Mrigashira until 02:53 (tomorrow), then Ardra. Both parts are measurements of the same moving Moon: the name at one moment, the ending time at another.

The boundary is crossed at the same instant everywhere, though each city shows it in its own local time. Sunrise is not shared. Near a boundary, two cities can name different nakshatras for the same date because one sees sunrise before the crossing and the other after it. The sunrise guide explains this for every Panchang element.

Why the length changes

Between 2026 and 2036, a nakshatra lasts from about 20.8 to 27.2 hours, averaging 24.3. The Moon’s orbit is an ellipse, and its daily motion against the stars ranges from about 11.8° to 15.4°: fastest when it is nearest Earth, slowest when it is farthest. The Delhi day above was a fast one, with the Moon covering 14.2° between sunrises.

Skipped and repeated nakshatras

Sunrises arrive about 24 hours apart, but nakshatras do not keep to that rhythm. A short nakshatra can begin after one sunrise and end before the next, so no Panchang day carries its name. A long one can be in force at two sunrises in a row.

In Delhi in 2026 this happens 10 and 14 times respectively. For example, Mrigashira ran from 07:30 on 29 January to 05:27 on 30 January, between sunrises at 07:10. The dashboard shows Rohini on 29 January and Ardra on 30 January; Mrigashira appears only in the ending time. Moola ran from 05:46 on 16 January to 08:10 on 17 January, so both dates show Moola.

Named for stars, measured in equal parts

Each nakshatra is named after a star group near the ecliptic. Rohini is linked with Aldebaran, Magha with Regulus, Chitra with Spica and Jyeshtha with Antares, among others. The divisions, however, are equal measures laid over the sky, in the same way as the twelve signs.

panchang.now’s sidereal zodiac fixes Spica at exactly 180°, the middle of Chitra; the ayanamsa guide explains the choice. On that zodiac in 2026, Aldebaran is at about 45°57′, inside Rohini, and Regulus at about 125°59′, inside Magha. Antares is at about 225°55′, just short of Jyeshtha, which begins at 226°40′. Some of these stars also lie several degrees north or south of the ecliptic, which a longitude leaves out.

Daily and birth nakshatra

A birth nakshatra is the same measurement taken at the moment of birth rather than at sunrise. It needs the birth time, because the Moon moves about half a degree an hour, and a birth near a boundary can fall either side of it. Each nakshatra also has four quarters, or padas, of 3°20′. The nakshatra and pada guide covers them, and the nakshatra guide lists all 27 names with their traditional groups.

See today’s nakshatra and its ending time on the Delhi Panchang, or explore another topic in Learn.