Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 5509
| Start | March 7, 2265 at 02:22 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | April 3, 2265 at 09:50 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.31 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5504 | October 21, 2264 at 11:26 AM UTC | November 17, 2264 at 06:37 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 5505 | November 17, 2264 at 06:37 PM UTC | December 15, 2264 at 02:11 AM UTC | 27.32 |
| 5506 | December 15, 2264 at 02:11 AM UTC | January 11, 2265 at 10:07 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 5507 | January 11, 2265 at 10:07 AM UTC | February 7, 2265 at 06:18 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 5508 | February 7, 2265 at 06:18 PM UTC | March 7, 2265 at 02:22 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 5509 | March 7, 2265 at 02:22 AM UTC | April 3, 2265 at 09:50 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 5510 | April 3, 2265 at 09:50 AM UTC | April 30, 2265 at 04:19 PM UTC | 27.27 |
| 5511 | April 30, 2265 at 04:19 PM UTC | May 27, 2265 at 09:46 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 5512 | May 27, 2265 at 09:46 PM UTC | June 24, 2265 at 02:36 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 5513 | June 24, 2265 at 02:36 AM UTC | July 21, 2265 at 07:23 AM UTC | 27.20 |
| 5514 | July 21, 2265 at 07:23 AM UTC | August 17, 2265 at 12:38 PM UTC | 27.22 |
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.