Planetary Positions Sunrise API

Planetary Positions at Sunrise

This endpoint calculates and returns the precise astronomical positions of all major Vedic planets at the moment of sunrise for a given date and geographic location. Unlike standard planetary position endpoints, the positions here are computed specifically for the sunrise moment of the specified day, making them directly relevant to Vedic Panchang and daily astrological calculations.

What This API Returns

For each planet — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu, and the Ascendant (Lagna) — the response provides:

• Degree positions — both the absolute ecliptic degree (full_degree) and the degree within the current zodiac sign (norm_degree), in both decimal and formatted (degrees:minutes:seconds) notation.

• Zodiac sign placement — the sign the planet occupies, including its Western and Hindu/Vedic names, ruling lord, and associated element (Fire, Earth, Air, Water).

• House placement — the astrological house (1–12) the planet occupies at the time of sunrise, calculated relative to the Ascendant.

• Nakshatra (lunar mansion) — the nakshatra the planet is placed in, along with its presiding deity, ruling planet (lord), and pada (quarter, 1–4).

• Planetary motion — the planet's current speed and whether it is in retrograde motion.

• Avastha (planetary state) — two classical Vedic dignity indicators:

  • Bal Avastha (age-based state): Bala (infant), Kumar (child), Yuva (youth), Vridha (old), Mrit (dead).

  • Jagrat Avastha (consciousness state): Jagrat (awake), Swapan (dreaming), Supust (deep sleep).

Main Use Cases

• Daily Panchang generation — computing the planetary snapshot at sunrise is a foundational step in producing a traditional Hindu Panchang (almanac) for any given day and location.

• Vedic birth chart and transit analysis — determining where planets stand at the sunrise of a birth date or a significant date, used in Jyotish (Vedic astrology) chart casting.

• Muhurta (auspicious timing) — evaluating planetary strengths and states at sunrise to identify favorable windows for important activities throughout the day.

• Astrological software and apps — powering the planetary data layer in Jyotish applications, horoscope engines, and astrology dashboards.

• Research and education — providing structured, machine-readable Vedic astronomical data for academic study or algorithmic astrology research.

Key Functionality

• Sunrise-anchored calculation — positions are computed for the exact sunrise moment derived from the supplied date, time, and coordinates, not for an arbitrary time of day.

• Ayanamsha support — the coordinate system used for sidereal (Vedic) calculations is controlled via the X-Ayanamsha header, allowing selection of different ayanamsha systems (e.g., Lahiri, Raman, KP).

• Full Vedic metadata — every planet and sign is returned with both Western and Sanskrit/Hindu naming conventions, symbols, and classical attributes, making the response suitable for direct display in multilingual Vedic astrology interfaces.

• Ascendant (Lagna) included — the rising sign at sunrise is included as a planet entry, enabling immediate house-system construction without a separate API call.

• Retrograde detection — each planet entry explicitly flags retrograde status, which is a critical factor in Vedic interpretation.

• Localization-ready — the Accept-Language header allows the API to return names and labels in the requested language.