Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 1986
| Start | February 3, 2002 at 09:31 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | March 2, 2002 at 05:35 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.34 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | September 19, 2001 at 07:52 PM UTC | October 17, 2001 at 02:39 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 1982 | October 17, 2001 at 02:39 AM UTC | November 13, 2001 at 09:51 AM UTC | 27.30 |
| 1983 | November 13, 2001 at 09:51 AM UTC | December 10, 2001 at 05:24 PM UTC | 27.32 |
| 1984 | December 10, 2001 at 05:24 PM UTC | January 7, 2002 at 01:20 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 1985 | January 7, 2002 at 01:20 AM UTC | February 3, 2002 at 09:31 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1986 | February 3, 2002 at 09:31 AM UTC | March 2, 2002 at 05:35 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 1987 | March 2, 2002 at 05:35 PM UTC | March 30, 2002 at 01:03 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 1988 | March 30, 2002 at 01:03 AM UTC | April 26, 2002 at 07:32 AM UTC | 27.27 |
| 1989 | April 26, 2002 at 07:32 AM UTC | May 23, 2002 at 01:00 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 1990 | May 23, 2002 at 01:00 PM UTC | June 19, 2002 at 05:49 PM UTC | 27.20 |
| 1991 | June 19, 2002 at 05:49 PM UTC | July 16, 2002 at 10:36 PM UTC | 27.20 |
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.