Sun in Magha Nakshatra (Surya in मघा)

Magha, the 10th of the 27 nakshatras, covers 120°00′ – 133°20′ of the sidereal zodiac, wholly inside Leo. Magha is ruled by Ketu, so the Sun in Magha stands in Ketu’s star.

Ketu’s row in the friendship lists counts the Sun an enemy; the Sun’s own row names no node, so the Sun’s view of the lord of Magha has no entry, and this page does not supply one. The other two nakshatras Ketu rules, Ashwini and Mula, put the Sun under the same star lord.

The Sun in Magha, Pada by Pada

By rashi, the Sun is in its own sign in all four padas of Magha, because the whole nakshatra lies in Leo. By navamsa the four padas fall in Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. The Sun’s strongest navamsa in Magha is pada 1 (Aries, exalted), and its weakest is pada 2 (Taurus, in an enemy's sign).

Magha pada 1 (Leo 0°00′ – 3°20′) is gandanta: one of the six padas on the junction of a water sign and the fire sign after it, and the Sun placed in that quarter of Magha sits on the junction itself.

The Sun’s moolatrikona, Leo 0°–20°, covers padas 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Magha.

When the Sun Is in Magha, 2026–2028

• 17 August 2026: the Sun enters Magha, and leaves on 31 August 2026 — 14 days.
• 17 August 2027: the Sun enters Magha, and leaves on 31 August 2027 — 14 days.
• 16 August 2028: the Sun enters Magha, and leaves on 30 August 2028 — 14 days.

Those are the three spells the Sun spends in Magha between 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2029, 42 days in all. Over the same span the Sun stands in every one of the 27 nakshatras. The dates are days only; for the Sun in Magha a minute would be more precise than the ayanamsa behind it.

Inside Magha: what the tables locate there for the Sun

Of the 80 complete spells the Sun has in the table, in any nakshatra, the shortest is 13 days and the longest 14, and a spell in Magha is level with the longest.

• 23 August 2026: the Sun meets Ketu at 5° Leo, in Magha pada 2.
• 27 August 2026: the Sun meets Mercury at 10° Leo, in Magha pada 4.

The lunation table puts the new moon of 20 August 2028 in Magha: the Moon joins the Sun there, inside one of the spells listed above.

Magha as the Setting for the Sun

In the nakshatra tables Magha’s deity is listed as Pitrs and its symbol as throne; its gana is Rakshasa, and the muhurta texts put it in the Ugra class (fierce). Those belong to Magha whichever graha is in it, and they are read on the Magha page. What changes with the Sun is everything above: the dignities in Leo, the relation to Ketu, and the dates. None of it is a prediction for anyone born with the Sun in Magha; the house it occupies and the dasha running decide what the placement does in a chart.

Related Placements

The sign-level reading is on Sun in Leo; the Sun in all 27 nakshatras is on the Sun nakshatra table. For the nakshatras themselves, see the 27 nakshatras guide and our Magha article.

The Other Grahas in Magha