Tropical Planets
Returns the tropical (Western) zodiac positions of all planets for a given date, time, and geographic location — providing planetary longitudes and placements computed without ayanamsha correction, using the tropical zodiac that aligns the vernal equinox with 0° Aries.
What this API does
The Tropical Planets endpoint computes planetary positions using the tropical zodiac system, which is the foundation of Western astrology. Unlike the sidereal Planets and Extended Planets endpoints — which apply an ayanamsha correction to align planetary positions with the fixed star background used in Vedic astrology — this endpoint returns positions in the tropical zodiac, where signs are defined by the seasons and the Sun's relationship to the equinoxes and solstices rather than by fixed star constellations.
The tropical zodiac currently differs from the Vedic sidereal zodiac by approximately 23–24 degrees (the ayanamsha value), meaning a planet's tropical sign placement will often differ from its sidereal sign placement. This endpoint is therefore the appropriate choice whenever tropical zodiac positions are required — whether for Western astrology features, cross-system comparative analysis, or any integration that consumes tropical planetary data.
The endpoint accepts the same birth date, time, timezone, and geographic coordinate inputs as the other planetary position endpoints, and returns the complete set of nine Vedic grahas (or their Western equivalents) in tropical sign placements, making it straightforward to use alongside the sidereal endpoints for dual-system applications.
What data it returns
The API returns a structured JSON response including, for each of the nine grahas (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu):
- Tropical planetary positions: The tropical zodiac sign, degree within the sign, and absolute tropical longitude for each planet
- House placements: The house number each planet occupies relative to the tropical Ascendant computed from the provided coordinates and time
- Tropical Ascendant (Lagna): The tropical rising sign and degree, computed from the provided date, time, and geographic coordinates
- Retrograde status: A flag indicating whether each planet is in retrograde motion at the specified date and time
- Additional positional attributes: Nakshatra or equivalent positional qualifiers where applicable, and other standard positional data points returned for each planet
Main use cases
- Western astrology features in multi-system astrology platforms that offer both Vedic (sidereal) and Western (tropical) chart views, requiring tropical planetary positions to populate the Western chart alongside the Vedic chart
- Cross-system comparative analysis for practitioners and researchers who study the relationship between a person's tropical and sidereal chart placements, using both this endpoint and the sidereal Planets endpoint to compare sign placements across the two zodiac systems
- Sun sign and rising sign identification in the tropical system for applications that display a user's Western Sun sign, Moon sign, and Ascendant — the most widely recognized astrological identifiers in popular Western astrology
- Tropical transit tracking for platforms that monitor planetary transits through tropical signs and houses, generating Western-style transit alerts and forecasts
- Dual-system horoscope report generation where a report includes both a Vedic birth chart section (using sidereal positions) and a Western birth chart section (using tropical positions from this endpoint)
- Astronomical and ephemeris reference for applications that need tropical planetary longitudes as a reference point — for example, to display the difference between tropical and sidereal positions for educational purposes or ayanamsha verification
- Integration with Western astrology libraries and tools that expect tropical zodiac input, where this endpoint serves as the data source for planetary positions consumed by external Western astrology computation or rendering engines
Key functionality
- Tropical zodiac computation: Returns planetary positions in the tropical zodiac without any ayanamsha correction, producing the sign placements used in Western astrology and directly comparable to positions from any standard Western ephemeris.
- All nine grahas in one request: Covers all seven classical planets plus Rahu and Ketu in a single API call, providing the complete planetary set in tropical positions.
- Tropical Ascendant and house placements: Computes the tropical Ascendant from the provided coordinates and returns each planet's house placement relative to it, enabling house-based Western chart analysis without a separate request.
- Retrograde status for all planets: Returns a retrograde flag for each planet, directly usable in Western astrology features that highlight retrograde planets.
- Consistent input format with sidereal endpoints: Accepts the same date, time, timezone, and coordinate inputs as the sidereal Planets and Extended Planets endpoints, making it straightforward to call both in parallel for dual-system applications.
- Dual use for natal and transit positions: Accepts any date and time, making the endpoint equally applicable to birth chart computation and to current, past, or future planetary position lookups for transit and ephemeris use cases.
- Ayanamsha header accepted but not applied: The
X-Ayanamsha header is accepted for interface consistency with other endpoints in the suite, but tropical positions are returned without ayanamsha correction regardless of the value provided.
- Geographic coordinate support: Uses latitude and longitude for precise tropical Ascendant and house cusp calculation, ensuring accuracy for any location worldwide.
- Multilingual support: The
Accept-Language header enables localized planet names and sign names in the response, making the API suitable for a global, multilingual user base.
