Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 1596
| Start | December 19, 1972 at 10:53 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | January 16, 1973 at 06:55 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.34 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1591 | August 5, 1972 at 12:42 PM UTC | September 1, 1972 at 06:29 PM UTC | 27.24 |
| 1592 | September 1, 1972 at 06:29 PM UTC | September 29, 1972 at 12:55 AM UTC | 27.27 |
| 1593 | September 29, 1972 at 12:55 AM UTC | October 26, 1972 at 07:52 AM UTC | 27.29 |
| 1594 | October 26, 1972 at 07:52 AM UTC | November 22, 1972 at 03:11 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 1595 | November 22, 1972 at 03:11 PM UTC | December 19, 1972 at 10:53 PM UTC | 27.32 |
| 1596 | December 19, 1972 at 10:53 PM UTC | January 16, 1973 at 06:55 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1597 | January 16, 1973 at 06:55 AM UTC | February 12, 1973 at 03:07 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1598 | February 12, 1973 at 03:07 PM UTC | March 11, 1973 at 11:02 PM UTC | 27.33 |
| 1599 | March 11, 1973 at 11:02 PM UTC | April 8, 1973 at 06:11 AM UTC | 27.30 |
| 1600 | April 8, 1973 at 06:11 AM UTC | May 5, 1973 at 12:17 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 1601 | May 5, 1973 at 12:17 PM UTC | June 1, 1973 at 05:27 PM UTC | 27.22 |
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.