Carrington rotations
Convert a date to its Carrington rotation number and back, and browse rotation start and end times.
CR 8883
| Start | February 20, 2517 at 04:32 PM UTC |
|---|---|
| End | March 20, 2517 at 12:29 AM UTC |
| Length (days) | 27.33 |
Neighbouring rotations
| CR | Start | End | Length (days) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8878 | October 7, 2516 at 02:24 AM UTC | November 3, 2516 at 09:20 AM UTC | 27.29 |
| 8879 | November 3, 2516 at 09:20 AM UTC | November 30, 2516 at 04:39 PM UTC | 27.30 |
| 8880 | November 30, 2516 at 04:39 PM UTC | December 28, 2516 at 12:19 AM UTC | 27.32 |
| 8881 | December 28, 2516 at 12:19 AM UTC | January 24, 2517 at 08:21 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 8882 | January 24, 2517 at 08:21 AM UTC | February 20, 2517 at 04:32 PM UTC | 27.34 |
| 8883 | February 20, 2517 at 04:32 PM UTC | March 20, 2517 at 12:29 AM UTC | 27.33 |
| 8884 | March 20, 2517 at 12:29 AM UTC | April 16, 2517 at 07:40 AM UTC | 27.30 |
| 8885 | April 16, 2517 at 07:40 AM UTC | May 13, 2517 at 01:49 PM UTC | 27.26 |
| 8886 | May 13, 2517 at 01:49 PM UTC | June 9, 2517 at 07:01 PM UTC | 27.22 |
| 8887 | June 9, 2517 at 07:01 PM UTC | July 6, 2517 at 11:46 PM UTC | 27.20 |
| 8888 | July 6, 2517 at 11:46 PM UTC | August 3, 2517 at 04:39 AM 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.