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
1989-03-19 07:09	07:33	07:50	41 min	M1.7	2E-5	—	—
1989-03-19 06:38	06:39	06:45	7 min	M1.3	1E-5	N33W85	5395
1989-03-19 06:02	06:08	06:35	33 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	—
1989-03-19 05:20	05:31	05:55	35 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
1989-03-19 03:20	03:21	03:30	10 min	M1.4	1E-5	N18E32	5409
1989-03-18 20:54	21:05	22:00	66 min	M3.1	3E-5	—	—
1989-03-18 19:30	19:34	19:38	8 min	M3.3	3E-5	N36W74	5395
1989-03-18 16:33	16:34	16:47	14 min	M4.4	4E-5	N37W74	5395
1989-03-17 22:11	22:12	22:30	19 min	M2.4	2E-5	N37W64	5395
1989-03-17 19:07	19:14	20:33	86 min	M1.4	1E-5	S13E14	5403
1989-03-17 16:29	16:37	18:32	123 min	X6.5	6E-4	N33W60	5395
1989-03-17 10:07	10:09	10:31	24 min	M4.1	4E-5	N32W59	5395
1989-03-17 06:15	06:19	06:51	36 min	M6.8	7E-5	N32W59	5395
1989-03-17 01:35	01:38	03:08	93 min	M2.5	2E-5	N31W72	5395
1989-03-16 21:03	21:12	21:14	11 min	M1.6	2E-5	N19W05	5407
1989-03-16 19:35	19:40	20:31	56 min	X1.4	1E-4	N29W60	5395
1989-03-16 17:26	18:15	19:30	124 min	M6.5	6E-5	N31W55	5395
1989-03-16 16:32	16:38	18:17	105 min	M2.4	2E-5	N31W59	5395
1989-03-16 14:24	14:26	15:45	81 min	X3.6	4E-4	N36W47	5395
1989-03-16 08:51	09:06	09:39	48 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
1989-03-16 00:54	01:03	02:15	81 min	M3.1	3E-5	N28W48	5395
1989-03-15 15:43	15:53	17:39	116 min	M8.4	8E-5	N31W40	5395
1989-03-15 12:33	12:37	12:47	14 min	M1.1	1E-5	N31W38	5395
1989-03-15 11:27	11:34	11:39	12 min	M1.4	1E-5	N34W37	5395
1989-03-15 05:24	05:50	08:48	204 min	M4.8	5E-5	N34W35	5395
1989-03-14 18:28	19:36	20:49	141 min	M1.4	1E-5	N32W27	5395
1989-03-14 15:46	16:26	20:48	302 min	X1.1	1E-4	N33W21	5395
1989-03-14 07:35	07:57	08:21	46 min	M1.6	2E-5	N30W21	5395
1989-03-14 01:19	02:11	02:45	86 min	M2	2E-5	N27W22	5395
1989-03-13 21:11	21:41	22:23	72 min	M1.2	1E-5	N31W13	5395
1989-03-13 16:31	16:37	17:54	83 min	M1.5	2E-5	N32W16	5395
1989-03-13 11:59	12:15	13:52	113 min	M1.7	2E-5	N32W14	5395
1989-03-13 05:21	05:30	05:37	16 min	M1.4	1E-5	N33W08	5395
1989-03-13 01:59	02:20	03:17	78 min	X1.2	1E-4	N28W02	5395
1989-03-13 00:32	00:35	00:59	27 min	M1.4	1E-5	N27W08	5395
1989-03-12 22:35	22:37	22:43	8 min	M1.4	1E-5	N28W04	5395
1989-03-12 19:28	19:40	20:03	35 min	M6.3	6E-5	N30W02	5395
1989-03-12 15:03	15:24	15:29	26 min	M1.8	2E-5	—	—
1989-03-12 13:56	14:03	14:36	40 min	M2.5	2E-5	N29W00	5395
1989-03-12 07:16	07:28	08:25	69 min	M6.7	7E-5	—	—
1989-03-11 23:16	23:29	23:43	27 min	M7.3	7E-5	N28E09	5395
1989-03-11 18:33	18:40	19:16	43 min	X1.3	1E-4	N27E10	5395
1989-03-11 17:27	17:37	17:56	29 min	M1.2	1E-5	N31E10	5395
1989-03-11 14:35	14:38	15:01	26 min	X1.2	1E-4	N28E13	5395
1989-03-11 13:02	13:05	13:36	34 min	M1	1E-5	N30E11	5395
1989-03-11 07:29	08:05	08:44	75 min	M9.7	1E-4	N29E16	5395
1989-03-11 05:42	05:42	05:50	8 min	M1.2	1E-5	N30E19	5395
1989-03-11 04:14	04:31	05:15	61 min	M2.3	2E-5	N31E21	5395
1989-03-11 02:30	02:43	03:06	36 min	M2	2E-5	N27E18	5395
1989-03-11 00:54	00:55	01:01	7 min	M1.6	2E-5	N28E17	5395

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