Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 4798
| Start | February 1, 2212 at 07:57 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | February 28, 2212 at 04:06 PM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.34 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4793 | September 17, 2211 at 06:44 PM UTC | October 15, 2211 at 01:24 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 4794 | October 15, 2211 at 01:24 AM UTC | November 11, 2211 at 08:30 AM UTC | 27.30 |
| 4795 | November 11, 2211 at 08:30 AM UTC | December 8, 2211 at 03:58 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 4796 | December 8, 2211 at 03:58 PM UTC | January 4, 2212 at 11:49 PM UTC | 27.33 |
| 4797 | January 4, 2212 at 11:49 PM UTC | February 1, 2212 at 07:57 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 4798 | February 1, 2212 at 07:57 AM UTC | February 28, 2212 at 04:06 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 4799 | February 28, 2212 at 04:06 PM UTC | March 26, 2212 at 11:45 PM UTC | 27.32 |
| 4800 | March 26, 2212 at 11:45 PM UTC | April 23, 2212 at 06:30 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 4801 | April 23, 2212 at 06:30 AM UTC | May 20, 2212 at 12:11 PM UTC | 27.24 |
| 4802 | May 20, 2212 at 12:11 PM UTC | June 16, 2212 at 05:06 PM UTC | 27.21 |
| 4803 | June 16, 2212 at 05:06 PM UTC | July 13, 2212 at 09:51 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.