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
1989-08-11 18:01	18:21	19:14	73 min	M1.6	2E-5	S14W27	5629
1989-08-11 17:46	17:47	18:11	25 min	M1	1E-5	N17E81	5643
1989-08-11 14:12	14:25	15:36	84 min	M2	2E-5	S18W29	5629
1989-08-09 23:40	00:16	01:30	110 min	M1.7	2E-5	S14W08	5629
1989-08-08 03:09	03:21	04:11	62 min	M3.5	4E-5	S23E19	5633
1989-08-07 19:36	19:44	20:06	30 min	M1.2	1E-5	S30E31	5633
1989-08-07 18:21	18:54	20:20	119 min	M7.6	8E-5	S26W38	5622
1989-08-07 07:20	07:38	08:09	49 min	M2.4	2E-5	S23E29	5633
1989-08-06 22:37	22:44	23:19	42 min	M1.1	1E-5	S16E34	5629
1989-08-06 21:47	22:00	22:00	13 min	M4.8	5E-5	S27W24	5622
1989-08-06 09:30	10:07	11:03	93 min	M1.9	2E-5	S25W17	5622
1989-08-06 05:47	05:50	06:34	47 min	M2.7	3E-5	S30E51	5633
1989-08-05 22:47	22:51	23:37	50 min	M3.4	3E-5	S13E08	5623
1989-08-05 08:18	09:15	10:19	121 min	M2.6	3E-5	S29W03	5622
1989-08-05 03:49	04:02	04:42	53 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
1989-08-03 05:42	05:50	05:57	15 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
1989-08-02 21:04	21:11	21:30	26 min	M2.5	2E-5	S13E49	5623
1989-07-31 21:15	21:16	21:27	12 min	M1	1E-5	S10E76	5623
1989-07-31 18:58	18:58	19:25	27 min	M1.5	2E-5	S16E32	5612
1989-07-25 06:39	06:43	07:08	29 min	X2.6	3E-4	N25W84	5603
1989-07-21 03:44	03:50	04:06	22 min	M1.4	1E-5	S15E08	5597
1989-07-20 18:25	18:27	18:48	23 min	M3.3	3E-5	S16E09	5597
1989-07-20 09:06	09:32	10:05	59 min	M1	1E-5	N24E65	5691
1989-07-08 22:52	23:25	00:12	80 min	M5.1	5E-5	S20W35	5572
1989-07-05 14:25	14:47	15:23	58 min	M1.1	1E-5	N23E32	5575
1989-07-03 21:59	22:01	22:59	60 min	M7.4	7E-5	N22E52	5575
1989-06-30 15:36	15:47	16:11	35 min	M2.1	2E-5	N19W24	5569
1989-06-30 12:51	13:01	13:30	39 min	M2.5	2E-5	N18W23	5569
1989-06-30 04:00	04:16	07:23	203 min	M3.6	4E-5	S14E90	5572
1989-06-29 19:08	19:18	21:50	162 min	M3.7	4E-5	N28W44	5555
1989-06-28 16:08	16:18	17:13	65 min	M2.4	2E-5	N20E03	5569
1989-06-26 13:41	13:49	14:20	39 min	M1.9	2E-5	N18E29	5569
1989-06-25 01:47	01:50	02:10	23 min	M1.1	1E-5	N27E13	5555
1989-06-24 01:20	01:28	01:47	27 min	M2.4	2E-5	N26E29	5555
1989-06-21 16:49	16:51	17:37	48 min	M1.1	1E-5	N26E59	5555
1989-06-21 15:01	15:26	16:02	61 min	M3	3E-5	N26E60	5555
1989-06-21 09:25	09:37	11:32	127 min	M1.9	2E-5	N27E60	5555
1989-06-21 02:47	02:51	03:03	16 min	M1.4	1E-5	S19E61	5552
1989-06-20 23:42	23:42	23:56	14 min	M1.7	2E-5	S18E56	5552
1989-06-20 20:01	20:08	21:15	74 min	M9.3	9E-5	N18W81	5528
1989-06-20 18:12	18:20	18:47	35 min	M1.1	1E-5	S18W54	5533
1989-06-20 15:25	15:26	15:45	20 min	M1.5	2E-5	S19E68	5552
1989-06-20 12:48	13:08	15:20	152 min	X1.6	2E-4	—	—
1989-06-19 19:38	19:58	20:37	59 min	M1	1E-5	S17W40	5533
1989-06-19 05:44	05:48	05:54	10 min	M3.1	3E-5	S17E81	5552
1989-06-19 03:30	03:40	04:47	77 min	M2.5	2E-5	N15W59	5528
1989-06-18 21:40	21:43	21:50	10 min	M1	1E-5	S21E85	—
1989-06-18 17:00	17:00	17:20	20 min	M1	1E-5	N20W60	5528
1989-06-17 13:49	14:16	15:50	121 min	M8.7	9E-5	N16W40	5528
1989-06-17 08:14	08:20	08:39	25 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	—

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