The peculiarity of the western zodiac | First Point of Aries is deep inside IAS constellation Pisces

[@venkateshkumarhk9919]

Uttarayana is supposed to begin on Makara Sankranti day. But I have been observing that the Sun has started moving northwards from about 10 days....

[@Ahargana]

Your observation is correct. Since Dec 22, Sun is already moving northward, I.e. uttarayana started on Dec 22nd. I will delve into this when I get to Uttarayana / Dakshinayana in the Ahargana series.

[@sunilbhardwaj67]

Sun is entering Capricon(Makar Rashi) Nirayana Sign/Rashi.Sun will start its Uttarayan Journey in Nirayana Zodiac .Happy Makar Sakranti.🪐

[@Ahargana]

While it is correct that the Sun is entering Makara rashi today, it is not correct to say that uttarayana starts today. Uttarayana started on 22nd Dec 2022 i.e. the Sun has been moving toward the North since 22nd Dec. I will cover this in a future episode.

[@sunilbhardwaj67]

Thanks It means actually Sun Uttarayan Journey starts according to Tropical Zodiac.

[@Ahargana]

@Sunil Bharadwaj Wish you a wonderful Makara Sankranti! While the sankranti happened yesterday, many communities (including the one I belong to) celebrate the festival today.

[@sunilbhardwaj67]

@@Ahargana 🙏🙏

[@Ahargana]

Correct. I will shift focus away from meshadhi and onto equinox and solstice (I.e. tropical/saayana zodiac) when I start discussing ayana and rtu.

[@giridantanala]

Can we call this difference as ayanamsa sir?

[@Ahargana]

Conceptually you are right. This is ayanamsha. But defining the term ayanamsha is western astronomy is problematic. Web have meshadi ("180 degrees opposite of Chitra nakshatra") and vasanta vishuvat. The gap between the two is ayanamsha. As far as I know, the ancient Greeks did not have a clearly defined equivalent of meshadi. They did have vernal equinox. So how do we define ayanamsha in this system? Not possible. We can try and use the modern IAU definitions but there are 13 constellations spanning the ecliptic and they vary widely in "width". So this too does not help. Hence, the idea of ayanamsha is not formally defined in western astronomy.