diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
index eddbec19974..fc239661fa8 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.test.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   updateHistory,
   getExploreUrl,
   GetExploreUrlArguments,
+  getTimeRangeFromUrl,
 } from './explore';
 import store from 'app/core/store';
 import { DataQueryError, dateTime, ExploreUrlState, LogsSortOrder } from '@grafana/data';
@@ -279,6 +280,43 @@ describe('hasRefId', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('getTimeRangeFromUrl', () => {
+  it('should parse moment date', () => {
+    // convert date strings to moment object
+    const range = { from: dateTime('2020-10-22T10:44:33.615Z'), to: dateTime('2020-10-22T10:49:33.615Z') };
+    const result = getTimeRangeFromUrl(range, 'browser');
+    expect(result.raw).toEqual(range);
+  });
+
+  it('should parse epoch strings', () => {
+    const range = {
+      from: dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z')
+        .valueOf()
+        .toString(),
+      to: dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z')
+        .valueOf()
+        .toString(),
+    };
+    const result = getTimeRangeFromUrl(range, 'browser');
+    expect(result.from.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.to.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.raw.from.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.raw.to.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z').valueOf());
+  });
+
+  it('should parse ISO strings', () => {
+    const range = {
+      from: dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z').toISOString(),
+      to: dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z').toISOString(),
+    };
+    const result = getTimeRangeFromUrl(range, 'browser');
+    expect(result.from.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.to.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.raw.from.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T10:00:00Z').valueOf());
+    expect(result.raw.to.valueOf()).toEqual(dateTime('2020-10-22T11:00:00Z').valueOf());
+  });
+});
+
 describe('getFirstQueryErrorWithoutRefId', () => {
   describe('when called with a null value', () => {
     it('then it should return undefined', () => {
diff --git a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
index 624881ea6dc..d2f3edbc691 100644
--- a/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
+++ b/public/app/core/utils/explore.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import {
   urlUtil,
   ExploreUrlState,
   rangeUtil,
+  DateTime,
+  isDateTime,
 } from '@grafana/data';
 import store from 'app/core/store';
 import { v4 as uuidv4 } from 'uuid';
@@ -355,11 +357,15 @@ export const getTimeRange = (timeZone: TimeZone, rawRange: RawTimeRange): TimeRa
   };
 };
 
-const parseRawTime = (value: any): TimeFragment | null => {
+const parseRawTime = (value: string | DateTime): TimeFragment | null => {
   if (value === null) {
     return null;
   }
 
+  if (isDateTime(value)) {
+    return value;
+  }
+
   if (value.indexOf('now') !== -1) {
     return value;
   }
@@ -374,11 +380,18 @@ const parseRawTime = (value: any): TimeFragment | null => {
     return toUtc(value, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss');
   }
 
-  if (!isNaN(value)) {
+  // This should handle cases where value is an epoch time as string
+  if (value.match(/^\d+$/)) {
     const epoch = parseInt(value, 10);
     return toUtc(epoch);
   }
 
+  // This should handle ISO strings
+  const time = toUtc(value);
+  if (time.isValid()) {
+    return time;
+  }
+
   return null;
 };