Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 1253
| Start | May 10, 1947 at 05:20 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | June 6, 1947 at 10:23 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.21 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1248 | December 25, 1946 at 04:23 AM UTC | January 21, 1947 at 12:29 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1249 | January 21, 1947 at 12:29 PM UTC | February 17, 1947 at 08:39 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1250 | February 17, 1947 at 08:39 PM UTC | March 17, 1947 at 04:28 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 1251 | March 17, 1947 at 04:28 AM UTC | April 13, 1947 at 11:26 AM UTC | 27.29 |
| 1252 | April 13, 1947 at 11:26 AM UTC | May 10, 1947 at 05:20 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 1253 | May 10, 1947 at 05:20 PM UTC | June 6, 1947 at 10:23 PM UTC | 27.21 |
| 1254 | June 6, 1947 at 10:23 PM UTC | July 4, 1947 at 03:07 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 1255 | July 4, 1947 at 03:07 AM UTC | July 31, 1947 at 08:06 AM UTC | 27.21 |
| 1256 | July 31, 1947 at 08:06 AM UTC | August 27, 1947 at 01:44 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 1257 | August 27, 1947 at 01:44 PM UTC | September 23, 1947 at 08:03 PM UTC | 27.26 |
| 1258 | September 23, 1947 at 08:03 PM UTC | October 21, 1947 at 02:54 AM UTC | 27.29 |
About this tool
A Carrington rotation is the time the Sun takes to turn once on its axis as seen from the Earth: 27.2753 days on average. The count was defined by the English astronomer Richard Carrington, who studied sunspots in the 1850s; rotation 1 began on 9 November 1853, and the numbering has run without interruption since.
Explorer computes the start of each rotation with the formula given by Jean Meeus in Astronomical Algorithms (chapter 29), implemented in its own astronomy library and checked against published dates. A rotation begins when the Carrington longitude L₀ of the central meridian passes through 0°; because the Earth moves along its orbit, the synodic period varies slightly around the mean, hence lengths of 27.2 to 27.3 days.
Observers use the rotation number as a calendar for the Sun: an active region that crosses the disc reappears about one rotation later, and the community activity heatmap shows one row per rotation so that returning regions line up. Enter a date to find its rotation, or a number to get the UTC start and end dates and the neighbouring rotations.