Question 1

How do I find my Venus sign without a birth time?

Accepted Answer

Venus spends 29 days in each sign on average, so on most days the date alone settles it. When Venus changes sign on your birth day, the tool shows the exact time of the change in the local time zone: those born before it have the earlier sign, those born after have the new one. Without a time, it lists both possibilities. With the time and the city, the result is fixed.

Question 2

Can Venus and Mercury be in a different sign from the Sun?

Accepted Answer

They can, but only just. Mercury never strays more than about 28 degrees from the Sun, so it is in the same sign or a neighboring one. Venus reaches about 47 degrees and can be up to two signs ahead or behind. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have no such limit and can be in any sign. On each card the tool flags when the body falls in the same sign or element as your Sun.

Question 3

What is the difference between mean Lilith and true Lilith?

Accepted Answer

Both describe the apogee of the Moon's orbit, its farthest point from Earth. Mean Lilith uses the mean position of that apogee: it advances smoothly, about 40.7 degrees a year, and circles the zodiac in 8 years and 10 months. True Lilith uses the ellipse the Moon describes at that instant (the osculating apogee), so it oscillates: in our measurements it strays up to about 30 degrees from the mean, which often changes the sign. Neither is the asteroid Lilith or the legendary Lilith; what matters is picking one and sticking to it in every reading.

Question 4

Mean or true North Node: which one should I use?

Accepted Answer

The North Node is where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic heading north. The mean node always moves backward at a steady pace (about 19.3 degrees a year, one turn in 18.6 years) and spends 1 year and 7 months in each sign. The true node is the node of the real orbit at that instant and swings up to about 2 degrees around the mean, so the two only differ in sign when the node is near a boundary. Both are used in practice; the tool shows both and, on each node card, the South Node in the opposite sign.

Question 5

How is Chiron calculated if the library does not include it?

Accepted Answer

The ephemeris library does not include Chiron, so the tool uses a table generated with the public JPL Horizons API (object 2060 Chiron, geocentric, ecliptic of date): one longitude every 10 days from 1900 to 2100, interpolated with a cubic. The tests compare the interpolation with ten independent Horizons values and the error stays below 0.03 degrees, far less than needed to decide a sign. Chiron takes 1 to 2 years in Libra and Scorpio and 7 to 8 years near Pisces and Aries, and outside 1900 to 2100 the tool marks it as unavailable.

Question 6

What does a retrograde planet mean in my chart?

Accepted Answer

Retrograde is the apparent backward motion seen from Earth, a perspective effect between orbits. Mercury turns retrograde about three times a year, for around three weeks; Venus for about six weeks every 19 months; Mars for a little over two months every 26 months; Jupiter and Saturn for four to five months a year. In astrological tradition the mark suggests the planet's energy is lived more inwardly or revised, but that is a symbolic reading. The badge appears for planets and Chiron, computed from the longitude speed at the birth instant.

Question 7

Does the tool use the tropical or the sidereal zodiac?

Accepted Answer

Tropical, the zodiac of Western astrology, where Aries starts at the March equinox. The sidereal zodiac (used in Vedic astrology) is offset by the precession of the equinoxes: the difference, the ayanamsa, is about 24 degrees today, so most positions fall in the previous sign compared with the list here. This tool does not compute the sidereal zodiac; if you follow Vedic astrology, the signs shown here do not apply.

Question 8

Do I need to enter the birth city?

Accepted Answer

For the signs, almost never: the city only matters on days when a body changes sign, because the time zone decides which civil day the change falls on. With the city, the tool uses the local time zone, with the daylight saving rules of the day, instead of your browser's. The city and the time are also required for astrological houses, which depend on latitude, longitude and local time. None of this leaves your browser.

Question 9

Which dates does the tool accept?

Accepted Answer

From January 1, 1900 to December 31, 2100, in the Gregorian calendar. The limit comes from the Chiron table, and the same range applies to every body so the result is consistent. Historical dates and time zones, including the daylight saving time Brazil abolished in 2019, come from the browser's time zone database. For births in places with poorly documented time zone changes, check the time on the birth certificate.

Question 10

Do the signs shown match other sites and programs?

Accepted Answer

They should, within the margin of the sources. The planets were checked against JPL Horizons on ten dates between 1927 and 2085 with a difference below 0.02 degrees; Chiron, below 0.03 degrees. The true North Node (below 0.02 degrees) and true Lilith (below 0.15 degrees) were checked against the Moon's osculating elements from Horizons on five dates in 2000 and 2001. Sign differences between sites usually come from three causes: the sign-change day with an unknown time, mean versus true Lilith or node, and the time zone used for the date.

Venus, Mars, Mercury, Lilith and North Node Sign Calculator