Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 2485
| Start | May 10, 2039 at 07:25 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | June 7, 2039 at 12:29 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.21 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2480 | December 25, 2038 at 06:24 AM UTC | January 21, 2039 at 02:29 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 2481 | January 21, 2039 at 02:29 PM UTC | February 17, 2039 at 10:40 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 2482 | February 17, 2039 at 10:40 PM UTC | March 17, 2039 at 06:29 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 2483 | March 17, 2039 at 06:29 AM UTC | April 13, 2039 at 01:29 PM UTC | 27.29 |
| 2484 | April 13, 2039 at 01:29 PM UTC | May 10, 2039 at 07:25 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 2485 | May 10, 2039 at 07:25 PM UTC | June 7, 2039 at 12:29 AM UTC | 27.21 |
| 2486 | June 7, 2039 at 12:29 AM UTC | July 4, 2039 at 05:13 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 2487 | July 4, 2039 at 05:13 AM UTC | July 31, 2039 at 10:12 AM UTC | 27.21 |
| 2488 | July 31, 2039 at 10:12 AM UTC | August 27, 2039 at 03:48 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 2489 | August 27, 2039 at 03:48 PM UTC | September 23, 2039 at 10:06 PM UTC | 27.26 |
| 2490 | September 23, 2039 at 10:06 PM UTC | October 21, 2039 at 04:56 AM UTC | 27.28 |
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.