Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 819
| Start | December 12, 1914 at 02:01 AM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | January 8, 1915 at 09:58 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.33 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 814 | July 28, 1914 at 04:33 PM UTC | August 24, 1914 at 10:07 PM UTC | 27.23 |
| 815 | August 24, 1914 at 10:07 PM UTC | September 21, 1914 at 04:23 AM UTC | 27.26 |
| 816 | September 21, 1914 at 04:23 AM UTC | October 18, 1914 at 11:12 AM UTC | 27.28 |
| 817 | October 18, 1914 at 11:12 AM UTC | November 14, 1914 at 06:26 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 818 | November 14, 1914 at 06:26 PM UTC | December 12, 1914 at 02:01 AM UTC | 27.32 |
| 819 | December 12, 1914 at 02:01 AM UTC | January 8, 1915 at 09:58 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 820 | January 8, 1915 at 09:58 AM UTC | February 4, 1915 at 06:09 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 821 | February 4, 1915 at 06:09 PM UTC | March 4, 1915 at 02:12 AM UTC | 27.34 |
| 822 | March 4, 1915 at 02:12 AM UTC | March 31, 1915 at 09:36 AM UTC | 27.31 |
| 823 | March 31, 1915 at 09:36 AM UTC | April 27, 1915 at 04:01 PM UTC | 27.27 |
| 824 | April 27, 1915 at 04:01 PM UTC | May 24, 1915 at 09:25 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.