ZODIAC, SIGNS AND PLANETS

Celestial System
The mother earth rotates on its axis once in 24 hrs and revolves
around the Sun in 365.2422 days. Various planets like
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn also revolve around
the Sun (Dig 1.). These planets have satelites revolving round
them. Earth has one satellite called Moon revolving around it.
The complete Solar system also revolved around the centre
of our Galaxy "Milky Way" and makes one round in little hrs
than 26000 years. The Galaxy has many solar systems with
different Suns at their centres. Galaxy is shaped like two
saucers placed one over the other and our solar system is
revolving around it on one side of it.
As earth revolves around the Sun, we see from earth stars
around us in the sky. On account of motion of Earth around
the Sun, the Sun appears to move round the stars once in a
year. The line along which the Sun moves is called the Ecliptic.
The broad band or belt in the heaven extending 90 on either
side of the Ecliptic is known as Zodiac. The Ecliptic passes
through centre of zodiac longitudinally. The zodiac revolves
once in a day on its axis from east to west.
The zodiac is divided into twelve equal parts, for purpose of
astrology, called signs, which are named after the imaginary

figures which the stars form in each division. Since zodiac
consists of 3600, each sign will consist of 3600/12=300. The
signs are known as Rasis.
Our sages identified twelve group of stars seperated
appox.300 each in the 3600 celestial sphere. Thus we have
12 Rashis. They divided the celestial sphere in 12 parts
because moon moves around the earth 12 times during the
time earth revolved round the Sun.
Nakshatra
Looking at the daily movement of Moon, sages also identified
27 constellations around the celestial called Ashwini, Barni
etc. They are seperated by 3600/27= 13020'. Every day Moon
crosses over one constellation.Start of Ashwini match with
the start of first sign Aries.
From earth we see a celestial body passing over a sign, this
helps us know the location of that body.
In astronomy we define planet as a celestial body which
revolved round the Sun and a body which revolves around a
planet is called a satellite. Sun is termed as a star.
In astrology planet is defined differently. Since man lives on
earth and we want to studies effect of celestial bodies on
human being, we study the motion of celestial bodies with
respect to earth i.e. we take earth in centre and measure
position of bodies around it, including. Sun, Moon and other
planets. To measure the position we take far placed stars as

fixed and use them to know the coordinates/position of the
other celestial bodies. In astrology we define a planet an any
celestial body revolving round the earth; thus Sun & Moon
are consider as planets for the purpose of astrology.
What is Rahu/ Ketu
Earth revolves round the sun in a plane called Ecliptic. Moon
revlolves round the earth in a different plane which intersects
ecliptic in a line. The point from where Moon seems to be
going up is called Rahu & the point where Moon seems to be
going down is called Ketu. These are only imaginary point but
have special importance became their position define the
eclipse - Solar or lunar. If Moon earth & Sun are in line with
Rahu or Ketu an eclipse is formed. Since eclipse plays an
important role an earth and in astrology too, Rahu/Ketu are
important and are given the status of planets.
How the planets get Retrograde
The plants including earth move in one direction - anti
Clockwise around the sun. When the planet and the earth are
on the same side of the sun, the planet sems to be moving in
the opposite direction from earth. This motion is called
retrogression of planet.
The names of different planets according to the Indian and
western system and their symbols are as under:

PLANETS
Indian name Western name Symbol
Ravi or Surya Sun W
Chandra Moon _
Mangal or Kuja Mars G
Budha Mercury D
Guru or Brahaspati Jupiter H
Shukra Venus E
Sani Saturn V
Rahu Dragon's Head R
Ketu Dragon's Tail S
Indra Uranus JH
Varun Neptune X
Vayu Pluto ^
On account of motion of Earth around the Sun, the Sun appears
to move round the stars once in a year. The line along which
the Sun moves is called the Ecliptic. The broad band or belt
in the heaven extending 90 on either side of the Ecliptic is
known as Zodiac. The Ecliptic passes through centre of zodiac
longitudinally. The zodiac revolves once in a day on its axis
from east to west.
The zodiac is divided into twelve equal parts, for purpose of
astrology, called signs, which are named after the imaginary
figures which the stars form in each division. Since zodiac
consists of 3600, each sign will consist of 3600/12=300. The
signs are known as Rasis.

The twelve signs of Zodiac both in the Indian and western
system and their symbols are as under: -
S.No. Indian Name Western Name Symbol
1 Mesha Aries L
2 Vrishabha Taurus M
3 Mithuna Gemini N
4 Kark Cancer O
5 Simha Leo P
6 Kanya Virgo Q
7 Tula Libra Y
8 Vrishchik Scorpio Z
9 Dhanu Sagittarius [
10 Makar Capricorn a
11 Kumbha Aquarius b
12 Meena Pisces \