<p>Blocks have timestamps, but they are not very accurate. The protocol rules only (roughly) require them to not be more than 1 hour in the past and not more than 2 hours in the future. At least historically, miners have used this flexibility, effectively turning part of the timestamp as an additional nonce field. I don't know if this is still common practice.</p>
<p>Still, this means you can't rely on block timestamps to determine when they were actually created. It is possible to run a Bitcoin node yourself, and just observe when your node learns about every block - if you have decent connectivity, it will generally be within seconds of the block being found. There are also block explorer websites that generally keep track of this information.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-05T00:22:45.880Z
2021-02-05T00:22:45.880Z
Pieter Wuille
<p>You can get an overview of the recent blocks by visiting a &quot;block explorer&quot; such as e.g. <a href="https://blockstream.info" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blockstream.info</a> or <a href="https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/blocks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">blockchair.com</a>. These usually report the timestamps of blocks as seen in the screenshot below. Note that the timestamps in Bitcoin blocks are picked by the block's author and may diverge from the actual time the block was found.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/uDS1r.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/uDS1r.png" alt="A list of the last 10 blocks from blockstream.info" /></a><br />
<sup>via blockstream.info</sup></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T19:44:51.680Z
2021-02-06T19:44:51.680Z
Murch
<p>For example, can we see, the latest block, somebody got lucky and solved it in 1 minute, but then the next block, nobody solved it until 18 minutes later? (and how can we see it?)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T03:53:51.003Z
If your question get a satisfying answer, it would be appreciated if you can mark them accepted. If not, can you comment on what is missing?
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T11:31:55.393Z
@PieterWuille actually, I would have hoped that the answer contains a link or an alternative, to go to a website, so that we can click "display last block", and then click "previous block", so that we can see the time interval between the two
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T18:15:00.373Z
Sure, that makes sense. But please help guide the answers you get towards acceptance (not just this question; I've notices you don't have any accepted answers so far on all the questions you've asked).
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T18:32:41.803Z
@PieterWuille yes, the reason is that I am learning a lot of things about Bitcoin. The answer posted, I do not know whether it is the most correct or definitive answer.  It is not like programming, where we could ask, how do we do logarithm in base 10 in JavaScript, and the answer is `Math.log10()`, and the person try it, and it works, and it is almost certain it is the definitive answer, because it is such a short and simple answer and that it worked.
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T18:32:48.900Z
@PieterWuille Also, sometimes, such as on Interpersonal Skills or Math, I can ask a question about `e` and probability, and they gave me differential equations as an answer and I don't know if it is the definite answer, but they asked me to accept it, and then the Meta actually states that users cannot ask or force other people to accept their answers. For example, some users just let other users vote on 2 or 3 solutions and let one of them become the best answer by popular vote.
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T19:52:40.007Z
@nonpolarity Of course, I'm not demanding that you accept my answer in particular (or any answer). I'm just noticing a pattern that you don't seem to accept any answers, so I thought it'd be good to encourage you helping guide answers towards acceptance; whether that is by accepting, or by commenting what you feel is missing to make the answer satisfactory. Note that you can always change the accepted answer; for example, if another one pops up later that gets higher community votes.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T20:42:11.800Z
@PieterWuille yes, I hear you. One thing I also was thinking was, if I accept any answer when I don't know whether it is a definitive answer, there can be 30 or 500 users coming over later, see the answer, and see that it is accepted as the correct answer, and therefore think this is verified and all correct. I do not yet have the ability do verify it is all correct, so I don't want to mislead the other users who come over and think so. I can certainly find out the truth 3 months later, and modify the accepted answer, but every time I learn something, I can't go thru all 35 questions I asked
nonopolarity
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T21:00:14.180Z
Generally if you see an answer being upvoted, and there aren't people commenting that it's wrong, I think it's reasonable to assume the answer is correct. Acceptance isn't really about correctness, but about whether your question has been answered in sufficient detail. If it's actually factually incorrect, people will point that out.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T21:13:44.280Z
Accepting an answer indicates a) that the topic was addressed satisfactorily, b) which answer was the most helpful to the asker. This does not necessarily need to match the most upvoted answer. As frontpage and search results indicate whether a question has an accepted answer, accepting helps other users navigate the site's content. Incorrect content will accumulate downvotes or comments pointing out the flaws, and will get corrected or removed when discovered as incorrect. While accepting is not mandatory, I would consider it polite for a regular user to provide this form of feedback.
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-06T21:39:29.203Z
I wouldn't be worried about accepted answers misleading other users since you will get notifications about new comments on any answers to your questions. If that were to happen, it should get pointed out to you. :)
Murch
<blockchain><timestamp><block-interval>
Can we look at how long it took to solve for the most recent block in the blockchain? (and how?)
nonopolarity
# Can we look at how long it took to solve for the most recent block in the blockchain? (and how?)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-05)

For example, can we see, the latest block, somebody got lucky and solved it in 1 minute, but then the next block, nobody solved it until 18 minutes later? (and how can we see it?)

**Tags:** blockchain, timestamp, block-interval

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If your question get a satisfying answer, it would be appreciated if you can mark them accepted. If not, can you comment on what is missing?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 actually, I would have hoped that the answer contains a link or an alternative, to go to a website, so that we can click "display last block", and then click "previous block", so that we can see the time interval between the two  
> **username_1**: Sure, that makes sense. But please help guide the answers you get towards acceptance (not just this question; I've notices you don't have any accepted answers so far on all the questions you've asked).  
> **username_0**: @username_1 yes, the reason is that I am learning a lot of things about Bitcoin. The answer posted, I do not know whether it is the most correct or definitive answer.  It is not like programming, where we could ask, how do we do logarithm in base 10 in JavaScript, and the answer is `Math.log10()`, and the person try it, and it works, and it is almost certain it is the definitive answer, because it is such a short and simple answer and that it worked.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Also, sometimes, such as on Interpersonal Skills or Math, I can ask a question about `e` and probability, and they gave me differential equations as an answer and I don't know if it is the definite answer, but they asked me to accept it, and then the Meta actually states that users cannot ask or force other people to accept their answers. For example, some users just let other users vote on 2 or 3 solutions and let one of them become the best answer by popular vote.  
> **username_1**: @nonpolarity Of course, I'm not demanding that you accept my answer in particular (or any answer). I'm just noticing a pattern that you don't seem to accept any answers, so I thought it'd be good to encourage you helping guide answers towards acceptance; whether that is by accepting, or by commenting what you feel is missing to make the answer satisfactory. Note that you can always change the accepted answer; for example, if another one pops up later that gets higher community votes.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 yes, I hear you. One thing I also was thinking was, if I accept any answer when I don't know whether it is a definitive answer, there can be 30 or 500 users coming over later, see the answer, and see that it is accepted as the correct answer, and therefore think this is verified and all correct. I do not yet have the ability do verify it is all correct, so I don't want to mislead the other users who come over and think so. I can certainly find out the truth 3 months later, and modify the accepted answer, but every time I learn something, I can't go thru all 35 questions I asked  
> **username_1**: Generally if you see an answer being upvoted, and there aren't people commenting that it's wrong, I think it's reasonable to assume the answer is correct. Acceptance isn't really about correctness, but about whether your question has been answered in sufficient detail. If it's actually factually incorrect, people will point that out.  
> **username_2**: Accepting an answer indicates a) that the topic was addressed satisfactorily, b) which answer was the most helpful to the asker. This does not necessarily need to match the most upvoted answer. As frontpage and search results indicate whether a question has an accepted answer, accepting helps other users navigate the site's content. Incorrect content will accumulate downvotes or comments pointing out the flaws, and will get corrected or removed when discovered as incorrect. While accepting is not mandatory, I would consider it polite for a regular user to provide this form of feedback.  
> **username_2**: I wouldn't be worried about accepted answers misleading other users since you will get notifications about new comments on any answers to your questions. If that were to happen, it should get pointed out to you. :)  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-02-05. Score: 5

Blocks have timestamps, but they are not very accurate. The protocol rules only (roughly) require them to not be more than 1 hour in the past and not more than 2 hours in the future. At least historically, miners have used this flexibility, effectively turning part of the timestamp as an additional nonce field. I don't know if this is still common practice.

Still, this means you can't rely on block timestamps to determine when they were actually created. It is possible to run a Bitcoin node yourself, and just observe when your node learns about every block - if you have decent connectivity, it will generally be within seconds of the block being found. There are also block explorer websites that generally keep track of this information.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2021-02-06. Score: 1

You can get an overview of the recent blocks by visiting a "block explorer" such as e.g. [blockstream.info](https://blockstream.info) or [blockchair.com](https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/blocks). These usually report the timestamps of blocks as seen in the screenshot below. Note that the timestamps in Bitcoin blocks are picked by the block's author and may diverge from the actual time the block was found.

[![A list of the last 10 blocks from blockstream.info](https://i.sstatic.net/uDS1r.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/uDS1r.png)  
via blockstream.info


---

