Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 5171
| Start | December 9, 2239 at 09:06 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | January 6, 2240 at 04:57 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.33 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5166 | July 26, 2239 at 12:21 PM UTC | August 22, 2239 at 05:44 PM UTC | 27.22 |
| 5167 | August 22, 2239 at 05:44 PM UTC | September 18, 2239 at 11:49 PM UTC | 27.25 |
| 5168 | September 18, 2239 at 11:49 PM UTC | October 16, 2239 at 06:29 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 5169 | October 16, 2239 at 06:29 AM UTC | November 12, 2239 at 01:37 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 5170 | November 12, 2239 at 01:37 PM UTC | December 9, 2239 at 09:06 PM UTC | 27.31 |
| 5171 | December 9, 2239 at 09:06 PM UTC | January 6, 2240 at 04:57 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 5172 | January 6, 2240 at 04:57 AM UTC | February 2, 2240 at 01:06 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 5173 | February 2, 2240 at 01:06 PM UTC | February 29, 2240 at 09:14 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 5174 | February 29, 2240 at 09:14 PM UTC | March 28, 2240 at 04:52 AM UTC | 27.32 |
| 5175 | March 28, 2240 at 04:52 AM UTC | April 24, 2240 at 11:34 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 5176 | April 24, 2240 at 11:34 AM UTC | May 21, 2240 at 05:13 PM UTC | 27.24 |
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.