Tithi: the lunar day
A tithi is measured by the angle between the Moon and the Sun, not by the clock: every time the Moon pulls another 12° ahead of the Sun, a new tithi begins.
Today's figure Live
Elongation now: 314.1°, which is tithi 27. Dwadashi (Krishna Paksha) · until
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How it works
Seen from the Earth, the Moon moves along the ecliptic about 13° a day and the Sun about 1°, so the Moon gains roughly 12° a day on the Sun. The angle between them — the elongation — grows from 0° at the new moon to 180° at the full moon and on to 360°.
The 360° circle is cut into 30 parts of 12°, and the tithi is the part the elongation is in. Tithis 1–15 (0°–180°) make up Shukla Paksha, ending with Purnima; tithis 16–30 (180°–360°) make up Krishna Paksha, ending with Amavasya.
The Moon's speed varies along its orbit, so a tithi can be shorter or longer than a day and can begin or end at any hour. The Panchang names a day after the tithi that prevails at sunrise.
In this site's engine
Tithi = floor(elongation ÷ 12°) + 1. The elongation is the Moon's longitude minus the Sun's, which is the same in the tropical and sidereal zodiacs, so the ayanamsa does not affect tithis. Start and end times are the instants the elongation crosses a multiple of 12°.
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Traditions may vary by region and Panchang convention. Times are shown for the selected place, time zone and calculation profile.