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
1989-11-18 14:51	15:39	18:00	189 min	M7.3	7E-5	S30W16	5793
1989-11-17 11:37	11:45	11:58	21 min	M1.5	2E-5	S28W00	5793
1989-11-17 06:55	07:00	07:39	44 min	M1.6	2E-5	S29W00	5793
1989-11-16 21:34	21:38	22:13	39 min	M1.1	1E-5	S31E08	5793
1989-11-16 12:08	12:23	13:57	109 min	X1.1	1E-4	N12W46	5786
1989-11-16 03:12	03:23	03:39	27 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
1989-11-15 18:18	18:35	20:17	119 min	X1.8	2E-4	N16W27	5786
1989-11-15 05:38	06:05	08:20	162 min	X3.2	3E-4	N11W26	5786
1989-11-15 03:45	04:37	05:25	100 min	M1.7	2E-5	N19W66	5783
1989-11-14 20:38	20:42	22:18	100 min	M1.2	1E-5	N18W61	5783
1989-11-13 19:05	19:12	19:52	47 min	M1.1	1E-5	N18W48	5783
1989-11-12 07:59	08:11	09:15	76 min	M2.2	2E-5	N15E14	5786
1989-11-12 05:21	05:21	06:07	46 min	X1.5	2E-4	N13W39	5783
1989-11-11 17:29	17:32	18:06	37 min	M1.6	2E-5	N11W44	5781
1989-11-11 07:56	08:05	08:16	20 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
1989-11-11 04:00	04:05	04:27	27 min	M5.1	5E-5	N16W25	5783
1989-11-10 18:47	18:47	19:12	25 min	M2.9	3E-5	S23E66	5788
1989-11-10 15:44	15:50	17:07	83 min	M5.6	6E-5	N25W81	5769
1989-11-10 11:55	11:58	13:01	66 min	M1.1	1E-5	N19W04	5783
1989-11-10 10:29	10:29	10:35	6 min	M1.2	1E-5	N18W08	5783
1989-11-10 02:39	02:41	03:00	21 min	M1.4	1E-5	N18W03	5783
1989-11-10 00:38	00:50	01:53	75 min	M3.9	4E-5	N18W01	5783
1989-11-09 22:28	22:37	22:53	25 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
1989-11-09 20:36	20:41	21:02	26 min	M1.4	1E-5	N21W26	5776
1989-11-09 19:50	19:52	20:10	20 min	M1.3	1E-5	N18E04	5783
1989-11-09 18:19	19:52	20:35	136 min	M4.8	5E-5	N17W00	5783
1989-11-09 17:38	18:07	19:17	99 min	M1.4	1E-5	N13E46	5786
1989-11-09 13:46	13:54	14:30	44 min	M4.9	5E-5	N19E05	5783
1989-11-09 11:30	11:33	12:14	44 min	M1.4	1E-5	N17W90	5770
1989-11-09 07:48	07:57	08:47	59 min	M1.8	2E-5	N17E08	5783
1989-11-09 07:20	07:22	08:14	54 min	M1.1	1E-5	N13E53	5786
1989-11-08 22:16	23:57	01:03	167 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	5786
1989-11-08 17:56	18:02	19:36	100 min	M9.8	1E-4	N20W57	5769
1989-11-08 17:18	17:48	18:38	80 min	M2	2E-5	N16E08	5783
1989-11-08 05:34	05:58	07:06	92 min	M1.6	2E-5	N25W47	—
1989-11-08 05:01	05:03	06:00	59 min	M3.3	3E-5	N20W04	5776
1989-11-07 18:31	18:32	19:16	45 min	M2.8	3E-5	N17E74	5786
1989-11-07 18:30	19:51	21:04	154 min	M8.2	8E-5	N13E71	5786
1989-11-07 15:32	15:55	16:41	69 min	M1	1E-5	N16E29	5783
1989-11-07 05:10	23:00	05:28	1458 min	M1	1E-5	N18E40	5783
1989-11-07 01:55	02:20	03:15	80 min	M6.9	7E-5	N20E13	5776
1989-11-07 01:32	01:38	02:16	44 min	M2.4	2E-5	N18E36	5783
1989-11-06 19:41	19:46	20:21	40 min	M2.5	2E-5	N18E14	5776
1989-11-06 17:31	17:44	18:35	64 min	M1.6	2E-5	N18E16	5776
1989-11-06 12:43	12:45	13:33	50 min	M9.2	9E-5	N20E19	5776
1989-11-06 11:10	11:11	12:30	80 min	M3.7	4E-5	N17E24	5776
1989-11-05 06:19	06:23	07:09	50 min	M1	1E-5	N23W13	5769
1989-11-03 18:53	18:56	19:33	40 min	M3	3E-5	N18E59	5776
1989-11-03 05:40	05:48	06:05	25 min	M3.7	4E-5	—	—
1989-11-02 11:16	11:52	12:33	77 min	M3.3	3E-5	N19E74	5776

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