Solar Return Planets API

Solar Return Planets

Returns the tropical planetary positions for a Western Solar Return chart for a given year — the focused planetary data layer of the Solar Return endpoint suite. While the Solar Return Details endpoint provides a broad consolidated overview of the annual chart, this endpoint delivers the precise planetary position dataset for the Solar Return chart specifically, making it the appropriate choice when only the Solar Return planetary positions and their house placements are needed without the full cross-chart aspect analysis and interpretive summary.

What This API Does

This endpoint accepts an individual's birth details, their current geographic location for the target year, and the desired solar return year (solarYear), then computes the precise moment of the Sun's return to its natal tropical degree and calculates the tropical positions of all planets at that exact moment. The Solar Return chart is cast for the individual's current location (cLat, cLon, cTzone) rather than their birth location, following standard Western Solar Return practice. The endpoint returns the sign, degree, house placement, retrograde status, and motion data for every planet in the Solar Return chart, along with the Solar Return Ascendant, Midheaven, and house cusp framework calculated according to the specified house system.

Data Returned

The response provides a complete Solar Return planetary position dataset:

• Solar Return planetary positions — the tropical zodiac sign, degree, and minute of arc for each planet in the Solar Return chart, including Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto

• Lunar nodes — the positions of the North and South Nodes in the Solar Return chart, calculated as mean or true nodes based on the X-Node-Type header

• Chiron — the position of Chiron in the Solar Return chart

• House placements — the Solar Return house number each planet occupies, calculated according to the house system specified via the X-House-Type header

• Retrograde status — whether each planet is retrograde at the Solar Return moment, a significant interpretive factor in Solar Return analysis

• Speed and motion data — the daily motion of each planet at the Solar Return moment, indicating direct, stationary, or retrograde motion

• Solar Return house cusps — the tropical degree of all twelve Solar Return house cusps calculated according to the specified house system

• Solar Return Ascendant and Midheaven — the precise tropical degrees of the Solar Return Ascendant and Midheaven, the two most significant angles of the annual chart

• Solar Return moment — the precise date, time, and timezone of the Sun's exact return to its natal tropical degree, confirming the moment for which the planetary positions are calculated

Main Use Cases

• Solar Return chart rendering — providing the planetary position data needed to accurately render a Solar Return chart wheel or table in astrology platforms and apps, as a focused alternative to the full Solar Return Details response

• Solar Return planetary analysis — accessing the precise tropical positions and house placements of all Solar Return planets as the primary data layer for annual forecast interpretation, without the overhead of the full consolidated details response

• Solar Return house placement analysis — using the planetary house placements to identify which life domains are most activated in the Solar Return chart for the target year, a core component of Western Solar Return interpretation

• Retrograde planet analysis — identifying which planets are retrograde in the Solar Return chart, since retrograde planets in a Solar Return are considered to internalize or delay the themes of the houses and signs they occupy

• Solar Return relocation analysis — leveraging the separate current location inputs to compute Solar Return planetary positions for different geographic locations, enabling practitioners to compare how the Solar Return Ascendant and house placements shift when the individual is in different locations for their birthday

• Downstream aspect calculation — using the Solar Return planetary longitudes as the input for computing Solar Return internal aspects or cross-chart aspects to the natal chart in downstream processing, when aspect calculation is handled separately

• Multi-year Solar Return comparison — running the endpoint for consecutive solarYear values to compare Solar Return planetary positions and house placements across multiple years, identifying years with particularly significant Solar Return configurations

Key Functionality

• Computes the precise Solar Return moment — the exact date and time when the Sun returns to its natal tropical degree for the target year — ensuring all planetary positions are calculated for the astronomically correct solar return instant

• Accepts separate current location inputs (cLat, cLon, cTzone) distinct from the birth location, correctly implementing the standard Western Solar Return practice of casting the chart for the individual's location at the time of the solar return

• Accepts a solarYear parameter to compute Solar Return planetary positions for any past, present, or future year, enabling historical review, current year analysis, and multi-year forward planning

• Returns a focused planetary position dataset — sign, degree, house placement, retrograde status, and motion data for every planet — without the full cross-chart aspect analysis and interpretive summary of the Solar Return Details endpoint, making it the efficient choice when only positional data is needed

• Supports a configurable house system via the X-House-Type header, enabling Solar Return house placement calculations under any of the major Western house division methods, since the Solar Return Ascendant and house placements are highly sensitive to the chosen house system

• Supports configurable lunar node type via the X-Node-Type header (mean or true nodes), ensuring node positions in the Solar Return chart reflect the caller's preferred calculation method

• Returns Solar Return house cusps and angles alongside the planetary positions, providing the complete Solar Return chart framework in a single response without requiring a separate house cusp call

• Computes all positions in the tropical zodiac, consistent with the Western Solar Return astrology framework

• Designed for localization — the Accept-Language header controls the language of zodiac sign names, planet names, house labels, and all descriptive content in the response

• Serves as the focused planetary data layer of the Western Solar Return endpoint suite, complementing the Solar Return Details endpoint by providing a leaner response optimized for use cases that need planetary positions and house placements without the full consolidated annual chart analysis