Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 3164
| Start | January 22, 2090 at 02:07 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | February 18, 2090 at 10:18 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.34 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3159 | September 8, 2089 at 01:19 AM UTC | October 5, 2089 at 07:51 AM UTC | 27.27 |
| 3160 | October 5, 2089 at 07:51 AM UTC | November 1, 2089 at 02:52 PM UTC | 27.29 |
| 3161 | November 1, 2089 at 02:52 PM UTC | November 28, 2089 at 10:16 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 3162 | November 28, 2089 at 10:16 PM UTC | December 26, 2089 at 06:02 AM UTC | 27.32 |
| 3163 | December 26, 2089 at 06:02 AM UTC | January 22, 2090 at 02:07 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 3164 | January 22, 2090 at 02:07 PM UTC | February 18, 2090 at 10:18 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 3165 | February 18, 2090 at 10:18 PM UTC | March 18, 2090 at 06:06 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 3166 | March 18, 2090 at 06:06 AM UTC | April 14, 2090 at 01:05 PM UTC | 27.29 |
| 3167 | April 14, 2090 at 01:05 PM UTC | May 11, 2090 at 06:59 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 3168 | May 11, 2090 at 06:59 PM UTC | June 8, 2090 at 12:02 AM UTC | 27.21 |
| 3169 | June 8, 2090 at 12:02 AM UTC | July 5, 2090 at 04:46 AM 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.