Frequently Asked
Questions

Asteriris reads today's planetary transits — where the planets are in the zodiac right now — and cross-references them with your personal natal chart and the crystals you own. From that, it recommends a color to wear and a crystal to carry for the day. The idea is to make getting dressed intentional rather than random.

Calculated automatically: Asteriris requests all seven planetary positions from NASA JPL Horizons and temporarily caches successful results for reliability and performance. You don't need to enter anything for the daily sky reading — it updates once for each local calendar date using a standard midday reference. If one or more requests fail, every valid NASA position is retained. When NASA JPL is unavailable, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars normally use a built-in geocentric estimate, correct to the right zodiac sign roughly 93-95% of the time; Mercury, Venus, and Mars switch to unavailable when the built-in model detects retrograde motion instead, since the estimate is less reliable at that point. Jupiter and Saturn are always shown as unavailable when NASA JPL is unavailable. Unavailable positions are excluded from recommendation scoring.

Entered manually: Your natal chart placements — Sun, Moon, Rising, and other planets — are imported or entered by you. You can paste chart text from any astrology app and Asteriris will read it automatically, or fill in the dropdowns yourself, whichever you trust.

Asteriris requests planetary positions from NASA JPL Horizons, one of the most accurate public ephemeris services available. If one or more requests fail, Asteriris keeps every valid NASA result. When NASA JPL is unavailable, Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars normally use a built-in geocentric estimate — correct to the right zodiac sign roughly 93-95% of the time, though not as precise as a NASA JPL result. Mercury, Venus, and Mars switch to unavailable when the built-in model detects retrograde motion instead, since the estimate is less reliable at that point. Jupiter and Saturn are always shown as unavailable rather than estimated — their motion is too slow for this estimate to track reliably even outside retrograde. The source summary at the top of Sky on This Date shows how many positions came from NASA JPL, were estimated by Asteriris, or were unavailable.

Your birth chart placements come from what you enter in My Chart. Asteriris estimates your Sun sign from your birth date. If you were born within a day or two of a sign change, confirm your Sun sign with a full chart from any astrology app. Moon and Rising placements need your exact birth time and location, which is why Asteriris lets you paste them directly from any astrology app.

Transits are the same for everyone on earth at the same moment. Mercury in Scorpio is Mercury in Scorpio whether you’re in the United States, Tokyo, or Amsterdam. The sky is universal.

One nuance: the same calendar date in different time zones doesn’t always mean the same moment — this matters most when the Moon is changing signs near midnight. Asteriris calculates the daily sky based on your local calendar date at a standard midday reference time, so results near a Moon sign boundary may vary slightly across time zones.

Location only matters for your natal chart — specifically your Rising sign and house placements, which depend on the exact time and place you were born. Today’s planetary positions are not location-dependent.

Collective reading: Based only on what the sky looks like today. Everyone who opens Asteriris without a personal chart sees the same recommendation — because the planetary transits are universal.

Personal reading: Based on today's sky interacting with your natal chart specifically. When your placements resonate with active transits, Asteriris adjusts the recommendation to reflect your sky, not everyone's.

Asteriris uses the tropical zodiac, which is the system used by most Western astrology apps. Tropical signs are based on the seasons — Aries begins at the spring equinox — rather than the fixed position of the constellations.

The sidereal zodiac, used in Vedic astrology, places signs differently. Sidereal support is not currently available. If your chart uses sidereal placements, your recommendations may not align accurately.

Any Western astrology app or website can calculate your chart from your birth date, time, and location. Use whichever one you already trust.

Once you have your chart, copy the text and paste it into Asteriris. We'll scan it and fill in your placements automatically, then show you a review screen before anything is saved.

Entering your birth date auto-calculates your Sun sign. But your Moon, Rising, and other placements need your exact birth time and location to calculate accurately, so Asteriris doesn't calculate those automatically.

One exception: if you were born near the day the Sun changed signs — roughly the 19th–22nd of any month — your Sun sign depends on the exact time and year. The date-only calculation is an estimate. If you’re a cusp birthday, confirm your Sun sign using a full birth-chart calculation.

For now, copy your placements from the birth chart app you already use and paste them into Asteriris.

You can still use Asteriris. Enter as many placements as you know — Sun, Moon if you know it, Mercury, Venus, Mars. Leave Rising blank if you're uncertain; it requires an exact birth time to calculate accurately.

Recommendations based on your Sun and Moon alone are still meaningfully personalized.

A few possible reasons: you haven't added your crystals to My Stash yet, the stone that best matches today's energy isn't in your collection, or the "Prioritize stones I own" setting is off in Profile & Settings.

Once you build your stash, Asteriris pulls from your owned stones first. If nothing in your stash matches today's energy well, it falls back to the full library and shows you what to look for.

Yes. In My Stash, tap + Custom crystal to add any stone with your own name, emoji, and notes. It lives in your stash alongside library crystals.

If you'd like a crystal added to the main library, use the ✉ feedback button and select "Request a crystal." We review every request.

Asteriris scores each crystal based on how closely it aligns with today's active planetary signs, your natal placements, and your preferences. Crystals that resonate with multiple active influences score higher. It then rotates among the strongest aligned options so the daily guidance stays varied without becoming random. With "Prioritize stones I own" on, stash crystals receive a significant scoring boost when they are still a strong match. With "Prioritize accessible stones" on, widely available crystals receive a small additional preference.

A small, guided test of Asteriris's personalized features — daily readings based on your birth chart, your crystal stash, and your color palette.

Beta access is complimentary. No payment is required and nothing will ever be charged automatically. Personal Beta members will receive special founding-member pricing when Asteriris Personal launches.

Not yet. Plan Ahead is being rebuilt and tested so its future-date readings and trip-planning tools work reliably. For now, the beta focuses on today's collective and personalized readings, My Stash, the Crystal Library, My Chart, and CSV collection export.

Not yet. During beta, your chart, stash, and settings are stored on your device only. Joining the Personal Beta gives you access to personalized features — it does not activate cross-device syncing.

Use Export My Collection in Profile & Settings to download a CSV copy of your crystals and notes for use in spreadsheet software. The CSV is for your records and cannot currently be imported back into Asteriris. Cross-device syncing and secure accounts are in development and will be announced to beta members first.

Clearing your browser or switching devices will remove locally stored chart and collection data. You can download a CSV copy of your crystal collection and notes before clearing anything, but chart restore and CSV import are not available during this beta.

This limitation is exactly why we're building cross-device accounts.

Yes. Your birth chart, crystal stash, and preferences are stored locally in your browser only and are never uploaded to Asteriris servers.

Asteriris contacts NASA JPL Horizons for planetary positions. Those requests do not include your chart data or crystal collection. Reading cards are generated locally in your browser.

Information you intentionally submit through the beta signup or feedback forms is sent through our form-processing provider.

Your email is used to manage your Personal Beta access and send essential product updates. If you opt in separately, we may send occasional Asteriris news — but that checkbox is optional and separate.

We do not sell or share your email. To request deletion, email hello@asteriris.com.