Free Fixed Stars Calculator

A fixed star is a star beyond the Solar System whose contact with a planet or angle adds a particular theme to a chart reading. “Fixed” distinguishes these stars from the wandering planets. As Robson explains, the name survives from a time when stars were thought immovable, although they have their own motion.^[1]

Start with how the star meets your chart. A conjunction places it close to a planet or angle by zodiacal longitude; a parallel compares declination, the distance north or south of the celestial equator.^[1] A paran connects a star and planet reaching horizon or meridian angles together at your birthplace, the method Bernadette Brady develops in her 1998 book.^[4] The Anonymous of 379 gives particular attention to bright stars on angles and beside the Moon, preferably at matching latitude.^[3]

Ptolemy describes stellar natures through planetary qualities assigned to parts of constellations in Book I.9 of the Tetrabiblos.^[2] Robson uses those planetary combinations as a reading vocabulary: the first planet leads, the second modifies it.^[1] Brady develops individual readings through parans and practical tests, such as revenge for Regulus.^[4] Read the planetary nature first, then use the individual star's account to make the interpretation more specific.

Give the four Royal Stars, Regulus, Aldebaran, Antares, and Fomalhaut, an early look, along with Spica, Algol, and Sirius. Robson and Brady give these stars substantial individual readings.^[1][4] Brightness deserves weight; Robson also favours stars near the ecliptic.^[1] The depth of the written tradition makes this group a useful starting point, though a close contact elsewhere can deserve more attention. Read a contact as a specific theme attached to that planet, weighed against the whole chart.^[1]

Augurine's calculator uses the tropical zodiac and the apparent true equinox of date. It applies proper motion and precesses the catalog to your birth date before finding contacts. The tables below give positions for 1 January 2026; your result uses your birth date instead. Browse the 123-star catalog for individual star pages, or read the introduction to fixed stars in astrology.

Enter your birth date and place, with the time if you know it. The calculator checks all 123 stars against your natal positions. With a supplied birth time, it can find Ascendant and Midheaven contacts. Choose unknown and it leaves out those angle contacts and parans.

Brighter stars get wider longitude orbs: 2° for magnitude below 1; 1.5° from 1 to below 2; 1° from 2 to below 3; 0.5° at 3 or fainter. Distance from the ecliptic reduces that allowance. Stars keep the full orb through 10° of absolute latitude, three quarters above 10° through 30°, half above 30° through 60°, and a quarter above 60°.

A parallel puts a star and planet at similar declinations on the same side of the celestial equator. A contraparallel puts them at matching distances on opposite sides. The calculator uses 1° for magnitude below 2, 0.75° from 2 to below 3, and 0.5° at 3 or fainter for both, without reducing the orb for ecliptic latitude.

To find possible parans, the calculator needs a supplied birth time and complete equatorial coordinates. It compares when stars and planets rise or set, or reach upper or lower culmination (the two meridian crossings) at your birth latitude. It measures those times in sidereal time and uses each natal planet's coordinates throughout that daily cycle. Stars must be brighter than magnitude 3 and visible from your birth latitude; stars that never set have meridian contacts only. The default allowance is 30 minutes of sidereal time. Brady recommends 30′ of arc for her paran readings, equivalent to two minutes of sidereal time.^[4]

If you have conjunctions, the headline names the highest-ranked contact. Up to three featured cards follow, with further conjunctions in an expandable list. Closer contacts and brighter stars rank higher, with extra weight for Royal or Behenian stars and familiar names, plus a bonus for contacts below 0.1°. Closeness is measured against each contact's allowed orb. Cards show the orb and planetary nature, with Royal or Behenian badges and available readings. The ecliptic band map plots conjunction stars beside your natal positions. Declination contacts and parans have their own sections.

When available, the activation card shows one transit in the next twelve months to a star already in natal conjunction or declination contact. The outer planets and Jupiter take priority, then Mars, Venus, and Mercury, then the Sun, with the smallest orb deciding within each group; the Moon is excluded. The dates come from a daily check, so the card gives an interval and the closest sampled day.

A free account opens the full list of supported contacts and available readings, including the activation reading. Without an account, you can open every conjunction row, see up to three declination contacts and six curated parans, and read a selection of interpretations. The locked list shows where more is available.

It formed one of the four Royal Stars or Watchers of the Heavens among the Persians in about 3000 B.C., when, as the Watcher of the East, it marked the Vernal Equinox, the other stars being Regulus, Antares, and Fomalhaut.

Robson assigns Aldebaran to the East, Regulus to the North, Antares to the West, and Fomalhaut to the South.^[1] Allen records disagreement over the Persian names and their stellar identifications, and Brady explicitly questions Fomalhaut's membership.^[5][4]

Brady reads each Royal Star through a nemesis, a trial or temptation connected with success.^[4] She gives Regulus the test of success without revenge.^[4] For Aldebaran, she stresses integrity and honesty.^[4] Her reading of Antares identifies obsession within its intensity.^[4] Ideals and dreams guide her reading of Fomalhaut.^[4]

Dupuis, referring to this Persian character, said that the four stars marked the cardinal points, assigning Hastorang, as he termed it, to the North; Venant to the South ; Tascheter to the East; and Satevis to the West; but did not identify these titles with the individual stars.

Robson draws on Cornelius Agrippa and other writers for fifteen stellar entries with stones and plants in his chapter on medieval magic.^[1] Robson calls the list Magical Influences of Fixed Stars and says he has neither practised its rules nor established their efficacy.^[1] The calculator's Behenian badge identifies its corresponding catalog group. Fifteen entries have Behenian membership; Aldebaran, Antares, and Regulus display the Royal badge, leaving twelve with the Behenian badge.

The table follows the site's fifteen members. Robson's tenth entry names Polaris, where the site includes Alkaid.^[1] Polaris has its own stones and plants below.^[1] The catalog locates the Pleiades through Alcyone (Eta Tauri).

Polaris is at 28°56′ Gemini in the 2026 table. Robson assigns it lodestone, with succory, mugwort, and periwinkle flowers.^[1] He calls Vega “Wega”.^[1] Read these as historical magical correspondences; Robson himself leaves their efficacy untested.^[1]

An orb sets the maximum separation for a contact. The calculator includes contacts at the limit as well as inside it.

Robson allows 7°30′ for first-magnitude stars, 5°30′ for second-magnitude stars, and 3°40′ for third-magnitude stars in conjunction or opposition.^[1] The calculator checks longitude conjunctions only, with orbs from 2° down to 0.5° before the latitude reduction described above.

For declination parallels, Crane allows one degree.^[6] The calculator uses 1° below magnitude 2, 0.75° from 2 to below 3, and 0.5° at 3 or fainter.

Brady recommends 30′ of arc for parans, equivalent to two minutes of sidereal time.^[4] The calculator's default 30-minute screen is broader. Start with the smallest time differences and check them against her tighter allowance before giving them weight in a reading.

Latitude and the limits of longitude

A longitude conjunction can put a star on your Ascendant degree while the star itself is far above or below the horizon, as Robson and Brady warn.^[1][4] Robson gives stars near the ecliptic more weight.^[1] The calculator reduces orbs by latitude: at their 2026 positions, Vega and Polaris exceed 60° and get a quarter orb; Alkaid, between 30° and 60°, gets half.

Planetary parallels are less likely at these declinations because planets seldom travel that far from the equator, as Crane explains.^[6] Vega, Alkaid, and Polaris are about 39°, 49°, and 89° north in 2026. Vega is circumpolar poleward of about 51° north and never rises poleward of about 51° south. Brady uses all four angles for Vega where it rises and sets.^[4] Brady finds no practical visual-paran method for Polaris.^[4]

About 50 arcseconds a year is Robson's approximate rate for stars advancing through tropical longitude as the equinox moves backward.^[1] Clemency Montelle gives the equivalent scale as about one degree every 72 years in The Celestial Sphere.^[7]

The calculator places Regulus in Virgo since December 2011, Alcyone in Gemini since November 2000, and Aldebaran in Gemini since November 1298. Regulus stands at 0°12′ Virgo on 1 January 2026; its constellation remains Leo. The Pleiades entry uses Alcyone.

Robson's star table is set to 1 January 1920, and his approximate annual correction is 50¼ arcseconds.^[1] That older epoch explains why a longitude copied from his book differs from a 2026 result.^[1] The calculator transforms the catalog coordinates for the requested date and includes stellar proper motion. For ancient co-rising degrees, Robert Hand specifically requires recomputation rather than a simple precession correction.^[3] Brady likewise notes that changing declination can alter paran relationships over centuries.^[4]

Begin with the contact geometry and the orb printed on the card. A Royal Star on an angle deserves attention before a faint star wide of a planet: Brady gives the strongest position to a star occupying an angle at birth, and Robson weighs brightness alongside celestial position.^[4][1] The calculator's headline follows its ranking formula; that formula includes a tier bonus but no separate bonus for an angle contact. Its Ascendant and Midheaven conjunctions compare projected longitudes. Robson warns that the star itself may be well above or below the horizon when its longitude rises.^[1]

This is an important consideration and should not be forgotten. The result of the effect of a star upon a planet depends largely upon the strength or weakness of that planet in the horoscope.

Robson gives violent delineations for Algol and Markab.^[1] Read those 1923 descriptions as tendencies and themes. A present-day reading needs to explain how the contacted planet works in the whole chart.^[1] The Anonymous of 379 includes the Gorgon star in a mixture concerned with possessions and acquisition, qualified by the Moon's position.^[3] Brady rejects the idea that difficult stars are intrinsically evil and asks readers to consider the combination of stars.^[4]

Parans matter when the reading concerns a star's actual horizon or meridian relationship with a planet, especially where longitude projection gives a poor account of the sky, as Brady argues.^[4] Her whole-day method looks for potential angular coincidences and requires attention to the Moon's motion; she separately distinguishes stars on angles at the birth moment.^[4] The calculator screens angular times from natal coordinates, so use its broad list to select contacts for closer examination with Brady's tighter allowance.^[4]

For dawn visibility, Brady distinguishes apparent heliacal rising, the star's first visible rising before sunrise, from its mathematical rising together with the Sun.^[4] Her maps give the latter, true phases.^[4] Continue to the heliacal rising calculator for the dawn-visibility calculation.

Choose your closest contact, open that star's page, and read the account for the planet or angle involved. Compare it with that planet's house and condition in your chart before deciding how much weight to give the star.