Nakshatra Today

One of the 27 equal parts of the Moon's path through the stars, each 13 degrees 20 minutes wide and named after a star or group of stars in it. The Moon passes through one in about a day, so the day's nakshatra — the Moon's star — changes daily, at a different time each day.

The one the Moon is in at sunrise, which is the star a daily almanac prints for the day. A star birthday is kept on the day the birth star holds at sunrise in the solar month of birth — the star birthday page works it out for you.

Each region says the star names in its own language: Uttara Ashadha is Uthiradam in a Tamil calendar and Uttarashadha in a Telugu one; Shravana is Thiruvonam in Tamil. They are the same stretch of sky.

Choose your calendar tradition in the app to see the names your family uses.

Each is a fixed part of every nakshatra — Varjyam a stretch to avoid, Amrit Kalam a good one — placed by which star it is and scaled to how long that star lasts. Because the star and its length change every day, so do these two windows; on some days one falls twice, on others not at all.