Free tool

Nakshatra finder: find your birth star

The nakshatra finder from API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com) shows your birth star from your birth date, time and place. Your birth star is the nakshatra, one of 27 star groups, that held the Moon when you were born. You also get its quarter (pada), its ruling planet and your Moon sign.

Your birth star is also called your janma nakshatra. Enter birth details below to find yours.

Updated Nov 7, 2026

Sample, not your result: John Doe, New York

The Moon's place at birth gives the nakshatra, its pada, its ruling planet and the Moon sign. Your own result shows under the form.

Nakshatra finder at a glance

What the nakshatra finder takes, gives back and costs
You send	Birth date, time and place
You get	The Moon's nakshatra, its pada and ruling planet, and the Moon sign
The API call behind it	`POST /v1/planets` on the Astrology API
What it costs	Free on this page. In your app, 1 call per answer. The Free plan has 2,000 calls a month.

How the nakshatra finder works

Vedic astrology cuts the Moon's monthly loop around the sky into 27 equal star groups called nakshatras. Each of those has four padas. Your birth star is whichever nakshatra held the Moon when you were born.

Your birth star sets the order of your dashas (planetary periods). It decides four of the eight factors in kundli matching: tara, yoni, gana and nadi. Its pada also gives the starting sound many families use when naming a baby.

The Moon moves through one nakshatra in about a day, so a birth time helps. Without one, the tool uses noon and tells you the result may be the nakshatra before or after. The same request, with your own API key, returns it as JSON.

Worked example: John Doe's birth star

John Doe was born on August 15, 1990, at 10:30 AM in New York. His Moon was 24 degrees into Taurus. That point falls in Mrigashira, the 5th of the 27 nakshatras, in pada 1. So his birth star is Mrigashira and his Moon sign is Taurus.

Mrigashira is ruled by Mars, so his Vimshottari dasha (his timeline of planetary periods) starts with Mars. Mrigashira runs from 23 degrees 20 minutes of Taurus to 6 degrees 40 minutes of Gemini. So a Moon in its pada 3 or 4 would have the same birth star but a Gemini Moon sign.

Method and sources

This tool follows these rules from the public rulebook:

Planet positions come from NASA JPL planet data (DE440). We check them against NASA JPL Horizons. On 25,571 positions from 1850 to 2149, the Sun and planets agree within 0.001 arc seconds. The Moon agrees within 0.011. On 2,000 random birth charts, the rising degree agrees with Swiss Ephemeris within 0.004 arc seconds. An arc second is 1/3,600 of a degree. See how we test. A practicing astrologer reviews the rules behind these answers.

Words used here, explained in the glossary: Nakshatra, Pada, Nakshatra lord, Moon sign (janma rashi), Vimshottari dasha.

We do not store the details you enter. Results are for information and entertainment, not advice.

Build this into your app

This tool runs on our Astrology API. Here is the request behind it and the answer, for our sample: John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York. Read about the kundli and birth charts API.

POST /v1/planets

# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/planets" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"year":1990,"month":8,"day":15,"hour":10,"minute":30,"second":0,"latitude":40.7128,"longitude":-74.006,"timezone":"America/New_York"}'

Answer (lists cut to two items)200 OK

{
  "meta": {
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri",
    "ayanamsa_value": 23.7260727,
    "julian_day": 2448119.10483,
    "ephemeris": "JPL DE440s",
    "node": "true",
    "timezone": {
      "source": "zone",
      "offset_hours": -4,
      "zone": "America/New_York",
      "abbreviation": "EDT",
      "dst": true,
      "dst_hours": 1,
      "ambiguous_resolved_by_fold": null,
      "note": "read from the IANA tz database at this instant, so daylight saving and historical offset changes are included"
    }
  },
  "ascendant": {
    "name": "Ascendant",
    "longitude": 169.934155,
    "sign": "Virgo",
    "sign_number": 6,
    "degree_in_sign": 19.934155,
    "degree_dms": "19 : 56 : 03",
    "house": 1,
    "nakshatra": "Hast",
    "nakshatra_lord": "Moon",
    "pada": 3,
    "speed": 0,
    "retrograde": false,
    "combust": false,
    "dignity": "n/a",
    "vargottama": false,
    "pushkara": {
      "navamsa": false,
      "navamsa_number": 6,
      "bhaga": false,
      "bhaga_degree": 9,
      "bhaga_by_element": false,
      "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
      "sources_agree": true,
      "orb_degrees": 1
    }
  },
  "positions": [
    {
      "name": "Sun",
      "longitude": 118.7753409,
      "sign": "Cancer",
      "sign_number": 4,
      "degree_in_sign": 28.7753409,
      "degree_dms": "28 : 46 : 31",
      "house": 11,
      "nakshatra": "Ashlesha",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mercury",
      "pada": 4,
      "speed": 0.9610665,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "friend",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 9,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 8,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 7,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Moon",
      "longitude": 54.5750352,
      "sign": "Taurus",
      "sign_number": 2,
      "degree_in_sign": 24.5750352,
      "degree_dms": "24 : 34 : 30",
      "house": 9,
      "nakshatra": "Mrigashira",
      "nakshatra_lord": "Mars",
      "pada": 1,
      "speed": 14.258194,
      "retrograde": false,
      "combust": false,
      "dignity": "mulatrikona",
      "vargottama": false,
      "pushkara": {
        "navamsa": false,
        "navamsa_number": 8,
        "bhaga": false,
        "bhaga_degree": 14,
        "bhaga_by_element": false,
        "bhaga_degree_by_element": 14,
        "sources_agree": true,
        "orb_degrees": 1
      }
    }
  ],
  "planetary_war": []
}

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From the blog

Common questions

All questions

What is a nakshatra?

Nakshatras are the 27 star groups the Moon passes through each month, spending about a day in each, from Ashwini to Revati. Each covers 13 degrees 20 minutes of the sky. Your birth nakshatra, also called janma nakshatra or birth star, is the one holding the Moon when you were born.

Nakshatra in the glossary

What is a pada?

Each nakshatra is cut into four equal padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes, which gives 108 padas around the zodiac. The tool shows the pada number, from 1 to 4. Many families take the first sound of a baby's name from the Moon's pada, and kundli matching uses it too.

Pada in the glossary

What does the ruling planet mean?

Tradition gives each nakshatra to one of the nine planets, in a fixed order. The order repeats three times around the zodiac, so every planet rules three. The ruler of your birth star opens your Vimshottari dasha (your timeline of planetary periods). It rules the first period of your life, and the others follow in that same order.

Nakshatra lord in the glossary

Can the nakshatra finder work without a birth time?

Tick the box and the tool uses noon. The Moon moves through one nakshatra in about a day, so the real answer may be the nakshatra before or after the one shown. The rising sign is left out, because it needs a real time.

The sade sati check also works from noon

Is my nakshatra the same as my Moon sign?

No. Your Moon sign is one of 12 signs, and your nakshatra is one of 27 smaller parts of the same circle. A sign spans 30 degrees, room for two and a quarter nakshatras, so the tool shows both. Both use the Vedic zodiac, so they may differ from a Western sign.

What the Moon sign is

Can I add a nakshatra finder to my own app?

Yes. The POST /v1/planets request, sent with your own API key, returns the answer as JSON. It gives the nakshatra, pada and ruling planet for the Moon, the rising sign and every planet.

About the kundli API

Astrology API

Put this in your own app

Create a free test key and call the same endpoint with your users' details. Or try a request in the API reference first.

Get a free API key Open the API reference

Your first answer

John Doe, New York

POST /v1/planets200 OK

RisingVirgoHast
SunCancerAshlesha
MoonTaurusMrigashira
MarsAriesKrittika

Real API output. A free test key gets the same answer.

01
Test key: 1,000 test calls a month to build with
02
Free plan: 2,000 live calls a month, no card needed
03
Open rules: every rule is published, so you can check any answer

Nakshatra finder: find your birth star

Nakshatra finder at a glance

How the nakshatra finder works

Worked example: John Doe's birth star

Method and sources

Build this into your app

More free tools

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Today's panchang

Manglik dosha check

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From the blog

Unknown Birth Time: How Astrology Apps Should Handle It

Yogini Dasha vs Vimshottari Dasha: When Apps Use Each

How Nakshatra Is Calculated: From Moon Degree to Pada

Common questions

Put this in your own app