How Many Planets?

As mentioned before, some systems consider celestial bodies planets and others not. Here is a table indicating which celestial bodies astronomy and the various schools of astrology consider planets:


Celestial Object Modern Astronomy Vedic Astrology Classical Astrology Western Astrology
Sun X X X
Moon X X X
Mercury X X X X
Venus X X X X
Earth X
Mars X X X X
Jupiter X X X X
Saturn X X X X
Uranus X X
Neptune X X
Pluto X X
Rahu/North Node X X X
Ketu/South Node X X

Traditional Vedic Astrology does not consider the influences of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Some modern Vedic astrologers choose to use the outer planets. This is a fertile area for research. (See Dennis Harness’ article on the outer planets)


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