Sun · flares

A Sun that bursts

Flares are sudden releases of magnetic energy above active regions. The flashes in this view recall the classes of the strongest flares in the GOES catalogue (X, M); their positions are illustrative.

Latest catalogued flare

C1.5

2026-10-26 04:36 UTC

Strongest in the catalogue

X28

2003-11-04

X-class flares

558

1975 → 2026

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26

Illustrative rendering: procedural prominence loops and flashes; classes from the GOES catalogue below.

Catalogued flares

94,047

1975 → 2026-10-26

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26 Current · provisional

X-class flares

558

7954 M-class

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26 Current · provisional

Latest catalogued flare

C1.5

2026-10-26 04:36 UTC · AR 14561

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26

Strongest in the catalogue

X28

2003-11-04 18:29 UTC · S19W83

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26

X- and M-class flares per year GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26 Current · provisional

Show the data as a table

Number of flares per calendar year in the GOES catalogue (NOAA). The current year is provisional; 2020 is marked “instrument change”: since December 2019 the flux is no longer reduced by the 0.7 factor, which raises classes by about 40%.

C-class flares per year GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26 Current · provisional

Show the data as a table

Detection of C-class flares depends on the background level, hence on the cycle phase and the instrument; these counts are less homogeneous than those of M and X classes.

Ten strongest flares (peak flux derived from the class)

#	Class	Start (UTC)	Peak	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
1	X28	2003-11-04 18:29	18:50	3E-3	S19W83	10486
2	X20	1989-08-15 23:08	23:17	2E-3	S18W84	5629
3	X20	2001-04-02 19:32	19:51	2E-3	—	—
4	X17	2003-10-28 08:51	10:10	2E-3	—	10486
5	X17	2005-09-07 15:17	15:40	2E-3	S11E77	10808
6	X15	1989-03-06 12:54	13:10	2E-3	N35E69	5395
7	X14	2001-04-15 11:19	11:50	1E-3	S20W85	9415
8	X13	1984-04-24 21:56	22:01	1E-3	S12E43	4474
9	X13	1989-10-19 11:29	11:55	1E-3	S27E10	5747
10	X12	1982-06-06 14:30	14:54	1E-3	S09E25	3763

The peak flux (0.1–0.8 nm, W/m²) is derived from the published class, e.g. X28 = 28 × 10⁻⁴ W/m²; the GOES detectors saturated above X17 before 2003, so the 4 November 2003 flare is an estimate.

Filterable catalogue GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/26/26

Year

Minimum class

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
1990-12-09 08:21	08:26	09:03	42 min	M1	1E-5	N09W11	6397
1990-12-09 07:15	07:18	07:36	21 min	M2.8	3E-5	N02E79	6410
1990-12-07 13:08	13:10	13:36	28 min	M1	1E-5	N09E16	6397
1990-12-05 06:22	06:26	07:20	58 min	M2.7	3E-5	N08E43	6397
1990-12-04 13:20	13:35	14:47	87 min	M1.8	2E-5	N08E51	6397
1990-12-04 00:58	01:02	01:46	48 min	M6.6	7E-5	N08E56	6397
1990-12-03 18:20	18:22	18:44	24 min	M1	1E-5	N11E66	6397
1990-11-30 23:47	00:11	01:10	83 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
1990-11-29 12:26	12:46	13:20	54 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
1990-11-27 03:59	04:12	04:29	30 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	—
1990-11-26 22:13	22:16	22:22	9 min	M7.5	8E-5	N18W90	6368
1990-11-26 15:51	15:52	16:03	12 min	M1.4	1E-5	N19W80	6368
1990-11-25 21:09	21:24	21:53	44 min	M1.8	2E-5	N19W74	6368
1990-11-25 17:54	17:59	18:32	38 min	M1.5	2E-5	N18W71	6368
1990-11-25 02:16	02:18	02:49	33 min	M1.1	1E-5	S04W02	6377
1990-11-24 22:26	22:45	23:16	50 min	M1.2	1E-5	N16W64	6368
1990-11-24 13:09	13:19	15:05	116 min	M3.1	3E-5	S04E04	6377
1990-11-20 08:45	09:05	09:35	50 min	M1.8	2E-5	N18W03	6368
1990-11-19 12:38	12:42	13:06	28 min	M3.2	3E-5	N18E06	6368
1990-11-19 08:52	08:52	08:53	1 min	M3.5	4E-5	N18E08	6368
1990-11-19 08:21	08:38	08:45	24 min	M2.4	2E-5	—	—
1990-11-18 16:37	17:06	18:40	123 min	M1.3	1E-5	N19E21	6368
1990-11-17 23:10	23:22	23:58	48 min	M1.4	1E-5	N18E31	6368
1990-11-17 21:39	21:44	22:14	35 min	M1.1	1E-5	N15E28	6368
1990-11-17 19:01	19:05	19:09	8 min	M2.4	2E-5	N21E18	6368
1990-11-17 17:42	17:45	18:37	55 min	M1.1	1E-5	N18E26	6368
1990-11-16 22:44	23:00	22:49	1445 min	M1.2	1E-5	N18E39	6368
1990-11-13 03:32	03:44	03:55	23 min	M1.6	2E-5	N08W19	6361
1990-11-11 03:46	03:49	03:54	8 min	M2.1	2E-5	N10E18	6361
1990-11-08 14:10	14:16	15:06	56 min	M1.6	2E-5	N17W48	6355
1990-11-06 19:41	19:56	20:42	61 min	M3.1	3E-5	N08E68	6361
1990-11-05 21:51	22:10	22:58	67 min	M1	1E-5	S24E03	6350
1990-11-04 16:36	16:38	17:28	52 min	M2.1	2E-5	S21E15	6347
1990-10-22 06:04	06:06	06:14	10 min	M2.9	3E-5	S08W50	6322
1990-10-21 08:24	08:32	08:47	23 min	M1.7	2E-5	N18E32	6327
1990-10-21 04:56	04:59	05:56	60 min	M3	3E-5	N14W89	6311
1990-10-21 02:13	02:21	02:30	17 min	M1	1E-5	N16W92	6311
1990-10-20 16:59	17:10	17:21	22 min	M8.5	8E-5	N15W82	6311
1990-10-16 16:16	16:28	16:33	17 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
1990-10-15 00:25	00:35	01:24	59 min	M2.8	3E-5	S21E41	6321
1990-10-11 06:36	06:39	07:16	40 min	M1	1E-5	N09E44	6312
1990-10-10 16:55	17:01	17:35	40 min	M1.1	1E-5	S17E60	6314
1990-10-09 07:53	08:09	08:45	52 min	M1.6	2E-5	S18E71	6314
1990-10-08 05:52	06:06	06:29	37 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	—
1990-09-25 00:21	00:28	00:52	31 min	M1.7	2E-5	N15E09	6280
1990-09-23 11:05	11:13	11:22	17 min	M2.7	3E-5	—	—
1990-09-22 01:06	01:19	01:57	51 min	M1.1	1E-5	S27W60	6266
1990-09-19 07:05	07:06	07:36	31 min	M2.6	3E-5	N06E90	6281
1990-09-17 19:40	19:56	20:16	36 min	M5.3	5E-5	S15E29	6272
1990-09-17 11:19	11:45	12:23	64 min	M1.3	1E-5	S15E30	6272

Method and sources

The catalogue reproduces the NOAA (SWPC/NGDC) GOES event lists compiled yearly by the NASA GSFC Hesperia centre: start, peak and end (UT), class, heliographic position and active region when known. The class encodes the peak flux in the 0.1–0.8 nm band: C = 10⁻⁶ W/m², M = 10⁻⁵, X = 10⁻⁴, times the number (M2.3 = 2.3 × 10⁻⁵ W/m²).

Lines without an X-ray class (optical or sub-threshold events) are not imported. The last two years are re-read on each import; duplicates are rejected by start time and class. Yearly counts are computed from the imported catalogue.

Reading these data

Until December 2019 NOAA applied a 0.7 factor to the XRS-B flux of GOES 8 to 15; since GOES-16 became the primary satellite the raw flux is used. For the same physical flux, a class after 2020 is therefore about 1.4 times higher (Janssens et al., 2025). Counts before and after 2020 are not directly comparable.

SOURCES OF THIS PAGE

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC): NOAA SWPC/NGDC GOES X-ray flare event lists (1975–), yearly compilations by K. Tolbert, NASA GSFC Hesperia. Flare classes as reported by NOAA at the time: until December 2019 the XRS-B flux carried a 0.7 scaling factor (Janssens et al., 2025). · source page ↗
Licence : U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · retrieved on Oct 26, 2026 · SHA-256 d24560b7385e…
Janssens (2025): Janssens, J., et al. (2025). Solar flare rates and probabilities based on the McIntosh classification: impacts of GOES/XRS rescaling and recalibration. Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate. · doi:10.1051/swsc/2025007
Licence : Published literature; cited

Solar flares GOES X-ray flare catalogue since 1975

A Sun that bursts