Where Uttara Phalguni sits in the zodiac
Uttara Phalguni covers sidereal longitude 146.67 to 160.00 degrees, from 26°40′ Leo to 10°00′ Virgo. It is shared between Leo and Virgo: the first 3°20′ lie in Leo and the remaining 10°00′ in Virgo.
All of this is sidereal. The Lahiri ayanamsa moves the zodiac back from the Western one by about 24 degrees 13 minutes in 2026, and the circle is cut into 27 equal parts of 13 degrees 20 minutes. The 27 divisions are slices of the ecliptic, not the outlines of constellations. The star is Denebola, the bright tail of the lion in Leo. Its name comes from the Arabic for 'the lion's tail'. On the circle it follows Purva Phalguni and comes before Hasta. The signs it touches are Leo and Virgo.
The name Uttara Phalguni
Uttara means 'latter', so the name is 'the latter Phalguni', the second of the pair that begins with Purva Phalguni. It is the twelfth nakshatra and spans the boundary between Leo and Virgo.
Deity and symbol
Its deity is Aryaman, counted in tradition among the Adityas, the god of agreements, guests and the bonds between families.
The symbol is the back legs of a bed, which completes the picture begun by Purva Phalguni's front legs.
Ruling planet and the Vimshottari dasha
Every nakshatra has a Vimshottari ruling planet, and the nine planets take their turns three times in all around the circle of 27. Uttara Phalguni belongs to Sun, whose full dasha lasts 6 years.
A birth with the Moon in Uttara Phalguni begins partway through Sun's dasha. The part left is in proportion to the distance still to run: close to 6 years at the start, 3 at the middle, close to nothing at the end. After Sun the order runs Moon, Mars, Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Ketu and Venus. The other nakshatras ruled by Sun are Krittika and Uttara Ashadha. The dasha calculator shows the balance for your own chart.
The four padas of Uttara Phalguni
Each nakshatra splits into four padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. A pada matches one sign of the navamsha (D9) chart, and the four take four signs in a row.
Pada 1 starts at 26°40′ Leo. It falls in the navamsha sign Sagittarius, and its naming syllable is Te.
In pada 2, from 0°00′ Virgo to 3°20′ Virgo, the navamsha sign is Capricorn. Names for this pada begin with To.
Pada 3: 3°20′ Virgo to 6°40′ Virgo, navamsha Aquarius, syllable Pa.
In pada 4, from 6°40′ Virgo to 10°00′ Virgo, the navamsha sign is Pisces. Names for this pada begin with Pi.
The first pada of Hasta then starts at Aries. Syllables follow the commonly printed lists, and regional lists differ slightly.
Uttara Phalguni in the sky and in the year
In the timing texts Uttara Phalguni sits in the Dhruva (fixed) category. The Sun enters it on 13 September 2026 in 2026 and leaves on 27 September 2026 (Indian time). The Moon crosses a nakshatra in about a day, between roughly 21 and 27 hours depending on how fast it is moving.
Uttara Phalguni beside its neighbours
Pada by pada, Leo and Virgo takes pada 1 and padas 2 to 4, so a Moon in Uttara Phalguni can be in either of two signs. In the full Vimshottari round, Sun is third of nine, occupying years 27 to 33. The three Sun nakshatras sit 120 degrees apart, and Uttara Phalguni is the second of them.
Next door the rulers change, from Venus at Purva Phalguni to Moon at Hasta. Purva Phalguni is Ugra (intense) while Uttara Phalguni is Dhruva (fixed). Hasta is Kshipra (swift). Its neighbours carry other deities: Bhaga, a god of shared goods at Purva Phalguni, Savitar, the Sun god at Hasta.
How to find out if your Moon is in Uttara Phalguni
Take the Moon's sidereal position at birth: if it lies between 26°40′ Leo and 10°00′ Virgo, your nakshatra is Uttara Phalguni. The Moon moves about half a degree an hour, so a birth within an hour or two of a boundary can land on either side if the time is slightly off. The nakshatra finder works it out from your date, time and place of birth.
Calculated with the Lahiri ayanamsa and whole sign houses; every setting is on the method page. Last checked 2026-10-04.