Birth chart ↗
All seven traditional bodies, houses and major aspects.
THE SKY DEGREES REFERENCE
Make sense of the current sky.
A planetary position needs a time and a coordinate system. These guides help you read the current sky and daily ephemeris: what the numbers mean, how to compare them, and which questions need a different observation.
Current planetary positions ↗
A timestamped sky view with optional outer planets.
Daily ephemeris ↗
A monthly table at your selected time and time zone.
How to read an ephemeris
Read a daily ephemeris step by step: check the sample time, interpret sign and degree, then inspect motion and speed using a reproducible Venus example.
Read the guide ↗Retrograde and direct motion
Understand positive and negative planetary speed, and see why daily Mercury samples can bracket a direction change without giving an exact station time.
Read the guide ↗An ephemeris and a birth chart answer different questions
Compare global sky positions with a personal birth chart: required inputs, houses, fixed natal positions and a reproducible Moon example across two dates.
Read the guide ↗Tropical and sidereal positions describe the same sky
Understand why tropical and sidereal planet positions have different sign labels, how ayanamsa changes the reference, and how to compare fixed ephemeris samples.
Read the guide ↗A planet’s zodiac longitude is not a visibility forecast
Learn why a current planetary position does not tell you where to look locally, with a real Moon example and clear distinctions between longitude, altitude and azimuth.
Read the guide ↗What you need to determine the current phase of Venus
Understand Venus’s phase angle and illuminated fraction, why its zodiac position cannot supply them, and the limits of Sky Degrees’ current planetary table.
Read the guide ↗Keep the setting with the result.
Record the sample time, time zone and zodiac when comparing positions. A daily sample cannot identify the exact time of a station or sign change. A geocentric zodiac position does not tell you where to point a telescope.
Reproduce a time-zone comparison ↗