Nakshatra timing for daily activities
The nakshatra changes during the day, and the time when it changes is given in the panchang. A nakshatra can begin or end at any time, not only at sunrise or midnight.
What it is
The Moon moves about 13 degrees a day, so a nakshatra lasts about one day, sometimes a little less or more. The end time is the moment the Moon reaches the next nakshatra boundary.
How it is worked out or read
The panchang gives the start and end of each nakshatra for the chosen city, and the muhurat finder uses the nakshatra that is present at sunrise for its day filter.
Where it appears on this site
Nakshatra end times are in the panchang. The nakshatra boundary method shows how the end time is found.
Sunrise nakshatra and the moment
A panchang names a day's nakshatra by the one that holds at sunrise. But the Moon passes through a nakshatra in about a day, so on most days the nakshatra changes at some point between one sunrise and the next. For naming the day and for many observances, the sunrise nakshatra is the convention. For choosing the time of a particular action, what matters is the nakshatra at the moment of the action. A reader who plans an evening event on a day listed under one nakshatra should check whether the nakshatra has changed by then.
Weekday and nakshatra combinations
Muhurta texts give special names to certain combinations of weekday and nakshatra. The best known are Guru Pushya, Pushya falling on a Thursday, and Ravi Pushya, Pushya on a Sunday, both widely regarded as favourable for beginnings and purchases. Lists of amrita siddhi yoga, another set of favourable combinations, commonly include Sunday with Hasta, Monday with Mrigashira, Tuesday with Ashwini, Wednesday with Anuradha, Thursday with Pushya, Friday with Revati and Saturday with Rohini. Sarvartha siddhi yoga is a wider list. Almanacs differ in details, so readers should follow their own.
Day and night
Because the vara, the weekday, runs from sunrise to sunrise in the panchang, an event after midnight but before sunrise still belongs to the previous vara. If a combination such as Guru Pushya depends on both the weekday and the nakshatra, both must hold at the moment of action: Pushya on Thursday from sunrise until it ends, or from when it begins until the next sunrise.
Finding the windows
The panchang page on this site gives the sunrise nakshatra and the time it ends. If the next nakshatra begins later in the day, the panchang for the following day will show it at sunrise. Using these two pages together, a reader can map the exact hours when a desired nakshatra holds on a given weekday, and the muhurat finder can search a range of dates for the weekday and sunrise nakshatra combinations they want.
A sense of proportion
These combinations are traditional aids for choosing good times, and many families value them, especially around festivals. They are not meant to cause anxiety when a needed action falls on an ordinary day. Most activities in life take place on ordinary days, and the tradition offers simple ways to begin well on any of them.