Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 4823
| Start | December 14, 2213 at 02:34 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | January 10, 2214 at 10:29 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.33 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4818 | July 30, 2213 at 05:21 PM UTC | August 26, 2213 at 10:51 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 4819 | August 26, 2213 at 10:51 PM UTC | September 23, 2213 at 05:03 AM UTC | 27.26 |
| 4820 | September 23, 2213 at 05:03 AM UTC | October 20, 2213 at 11:49 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 4821 | October 20, 2213 at 11:49 AM UTC | November 16, 2213 at 07:00 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 4822 | November 16, 2213 at 07:00 PM UTC | December 14, 2213 at 02:34 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 4823 | December 14, 2213 at 02:34 AM UTC | January 10, 2214 at 10:29 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 4824 | January 10, 2214 at 10:29 AM UTC | February 6, 2214 at 06:39 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 4825 | February 6, 2214 at 06:39 PM UTC | March 6, 2214 at 02:44 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 4826 | March 6, 2214 at 02:44 AM UTC | April 2, 2214 at 10:13 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 4827 | April 2, 2214 at 10:13 AM UTC | April 29, 2214 at 04:44 PM UTC | 27.27 |
| 4828 | April 29, 2214 at 04:44 PM UTC | May 26, 2214 at 10:13 PM UTC | 27.23 |
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.