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

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
1989-09-21 11:08	11:08	11:35	27 min	M1.5	2E-5	S27E06	5698
1989-09-21 00:59	01:06	01:24	25 min	M2.9	3E-5	S27E11	5698
1989-09-19 14:05	14:14	14:28	23 min	M4.1	4E-5	—	—
1989-09-19 08:00	08:03	08:36	36 min	M1.2	1E-5	S30E36	5698
1989-09-18 16:49	16:58	17:39	50 min	M1.1	1E-5	N18W65	5686
1989-09-17 16:31	16:48	17:26	55 min	M1.2	1E-5	N14W54	5686
1989-09-16 14:22	14:34	14:52	30 min	M1.2	1E-5	N14W73	5683
1989-09-15 20:30	21:48	22:40	130 min	M2.3	2E-5	N20W22	5687
1989-09-14 05:38	05:41	06:39	61 min	M1.1	1E-5	N26E40	5694
1989-09-14 04:59	05:08	05:42	43 min	M2.4	2E-5	N15W39	5683
1989-09-13 06:13	06:28	06:36	23 min	M1.1	1E-5	N26W42	5676
1989-09-13 01:29	01:38	02:22	53 min	M3.6	4E-5	N16E06	5686
1989-09-12 21:53	22:01	22:14	21 min	M1.1	1E-5	S19W90	5669
1989-09-12 08:03	08:09	09:51	108 min	M7.3	7E-5	N17E13	5686
1989-09-12 02:58	02:59	03:08	10 min	M3.2	3E-5	S18W79	5669
1989-09-12 02:35	06:14	08:57	382 min	M5.3	5E-5	—	—
1989-09-11 21:44	21:48	22:01	17 min	M2.2	2E-5	S20W76	5669
1989-09-11 17:38	17:40	18:15	37 min	M6.2	6E-5	N19W02	5680
1989-09-10 05:48	05:57	06:27	39 min	M2.8	3E-5	S19W82	5669
1989-09-10 04:27	04:31	04:53	26 min	M1	1E-5	N26W02	5676
1989-09-10 03:36	03:46	04:21	45 min	M1.3	1E-5	S20W56	5669
1989-09-09 23:35	23:39	00:08	33 min	M1.3	1E-5	N16E57	5687
1989-09-09 17:28	17:30	17:56	28 min	X1.3	1E-4	S15W67	5669
1989-09-09 16:51	16:52	17:15	24 min	M1.2	1E-5	N20E24	5680
1989-09-09 07:10	07:11	07:34	24 min	X1.4	1E-4	N18E28	5680
1989-09-09 03:29	03:30	04:04	35 min	M1.4	1E-5	N18E31	5680
1989-09-09 02:37	02:43	03:22	45 min	M1.1	1E-5	S15W57	5669
1989-09-08 19:03	19:30	20:32	89 min	M1.6	2E-5	S18W48	5669
1989-09-08 15:50	15:54	16:57	67 min	M1	1E-5	N17E33	5680
1989-09-08 02:08	02:08	03:03	55 min	M1.1	1E-5	S20W25	5669
1989-09-08 01:24	01:39	02:11	47 min	M1.1	1E-5	N29E27	5676
1989-09-07 18:51	19:14	19:49	58 min	M1.4	1E-5	S15W39	5669
1989-09-07 13:33	13:37	13:47	14 min	M1.1	1E-5	S17W21	5669
1989-09-07 06:23	06:29	06:58	35 min	M1.6	2E-5	S17W32	5669
1989-09-07 03:29	03:34	04:30	61 min	M1.1	1E-5	S17W25	5669
1989-09-05 22:44	22:47	23:26	42 min	M1.3	1E-5	S17W08	5669
1989-09-05 21:36	21:43	22:32	56 min	M1.3	1E-5	N26E23	5672
1989-09-05 20:06	20:25	21:06	60 min	M5.7	6E-5	S17E03	5669
1989-09-05 19:39	19:44	20:41	62 min	M4.7	5E-5	S17W10	5669
1989-09-05 11:38	11:41	11:57	19 min	M3.2	3E-5	S18E06	5669
1989-09-05 02:57	02:59	03:08	11 min	M1.7	2E-5	S19E15	5669
1989-09-04 11:05	11:06	11:54	49 min	M2	2E-5	N23E41	5672
1989-09-04 10:02	10:15	11:05	63 min	M1.4	1E-5	S23E18	5669
1989-09-04 07:46	07:52	08:35	49 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
1989-09-04 06:57	07:03	07:46	49 min	X1.1	1E-4	S18E19	5669
1989-09-04 04:25	04:31	05:14	49 min	M1.3	1E-5	S18E10	5669
1989-09-03 21:36	21:43	22:00	24 min	M1.8	2E-5	S17E27	5669
1989-09-03 12:28	12:31	13:00	32 min	X1.2	1E-4	S18E16	5669
1989-09-03 08:37	08:44	08:52	15 min	M5	5E-5	—	—
1989-09-02 20:25	20:33	21:20	55 min	M4.6	5E-5	S18E32	5669

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