Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 1920
| Start | March 1, 1997 at 06:57 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | March 28, 1997 at 02:28 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.31 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915 | October 15, 1996 at 04:04 PM UTC | November 11, 1996 at 11:14 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 1916 | November 11, 1996 at 11:14 PM UTC | December 9, 1996 at 06:47 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 1917 | December 9, 1996 at 06:47 AM UTC | January 5, 1997 at 02:42 PM UTC | 27.33 |
| 1918 | January 5, 1997 at 02:42 PM UTC | February 1, 1997 at 10:52 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1919 | February 1, 1997 at 10:52 PM UTC | March 1, 1997 at 06:57 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1920 | March 1, 1997 at 06:57 AM UTC | March 28, 1997 at 02:28 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 1921 | March 28, 1997 at 02:28 PM UTC | April 24, 1997 at 08:59 PM UTC | 27.27 |
| 1922 | April 24, 1997 at 08:59 PM UTC | May 22, 1997 at 02:29 AM UTC | 27.23 |
| 1923 | May 22, 1997 at 02:29 AM UTC | June 18, 1997 at 07:20 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 1924 | June 18, 1997 at 07:20 AM UTC | July 15, 1997 at 12:06 PM UTC | 27.20 |
| 1925 | July 15, 1997 at 12:06 PM UTC | August 11, 1997 at 05:20 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.