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

B7.5

2026-10-24 02:11 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) · 10/24/26

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

Catalogued flares

94,033

1975 → 2026-10-24

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/24/26

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) · 10/24/26

Latest catalogued flare

B7.5

2026-10-24 02:11 UTC · AR 14560

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/24/26

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) · 10/24/26

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) · 10/24/26 GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/24/26

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) · 10/24/26

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) · 10/24/26

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
2012-10-22 16:38	16:51	17:01	23 min	M5	5E-5	S12E61	11598
2012-10-21 17:46	18:03	18:20	34 min	M1.3	1E-5	S10E76	11598
2012-10-20 16:05	16:14	16:19	14 min	M9	9E-5	—	11598
2012-10-10 02:51	03:04	03:20	29 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
2012-10-09 21:22	21:31	21:35	13 min	M1.7	2E-5	—	—
2012-10-08 09:05	09:17	09:23	18 min	M2.3	2E-5	—	—
2012-09-30 02:27	02:33	02:42	15 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	11583
2012-09-09 19:50	20:36	20:56	66 min	M1.2	1E-5	S15W52	11564
2012-09-08 15:35	15:59	16:20	45 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	11564
2012-09-06 02:06	02:13	02:20	14 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	11560
2012-08-30 10:02	10:11	10:14	12 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	11563
2012-08-18 21:15	21:22	21:32	17 min	M1.3	1E-5	N21E76	11548
2012-08-18 20:46	20:54	21:00	14 min	M1	1E-5	N19E78	11548
2012-08-18 14:02	14:07	14:09	7 min	M2	2E-5	N19E80	11548
2012-08-18 01:17	01:23	01:30	13 min	M1.8	2E-5	N19E86	11548
2012-08-17 22:24	23:02	23:07	43 min	M5.5	6E-5	N19E86	11548
2012-08-17 15:08	15:20	15:27	19 min	M1	1E-5	—	11548
2012-08-17 11:12	11:19	11:23	11 min	M2.4	2E-5	—	11548
2012-08-11 09:55	10:20	10:57	62 min	M1	1E-5	S28W38	11540
2012-08-06 02:33	02:38	02:41	8 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	11542
2012-07-30 13:39	13:48	13:53	14 min	M1.1	1E-5	S22E28	11536
2012-07-29 04:15	04:22	04:29	14 min	M2.3	2E-5	S22E49	11532
2012-07-28 18:44	18:56	19:04	20 min	M6.1	6E-5	S25E54	11532
2012-07-27 15:17	15:26	15:32	15 min	M2.7	3E-5	S18E62	11532
2012-07-19 02:17	03:58	04:56	159 min	M7.7	8E-5	—	11520
2012-07-17 10:03	15:15	17:04	421 min	M1.7	2E-5	S28W65	11520
2012-07-14 02:51	02:58	03:05	14 min	M1	1E-5	S22W36	11521
2012-07-12 13:37	14:49	15:30	113 min	X1.4	1E-4	S15W01	11520
2012-07-10 04:05	04:27	04:47	42 min	M2	2E-5	S17E30	11520
2012-07-10 02:58	03:14	03:31	33 min	M1.7	2E-5	—	11520
2012-07-09 21:03	21:07	21:11	8 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	11520
2012-07-08 14:23	14:32	14:42	19 min	M6.9	7E-5	S17W74	11515
2012-07-08 10:06	10:10	10:13	7 min	M1.4	1E-5	S21W69	11515
2012-07-08 07:44	07:53	07:57	13 min	M1.1	1E-5	S21W67	11515
2012-07-08 03:41	03:46	03:52	11 min	M1.3	1E-5	S17W65	11515
2012-07-07 08:57	09:03	09:07	10 min	M2.6	3E-5	S19W58	11515
2012-07-07 06:18	06:28	06:39	21 min	M1	1E-5	—	11520
2012-07-07 01:10	01:15	01:23	13 min	M1.2	1E-5	S17W51	11515
2012-07-06 21:01	21:08	21:14	13 min	X1.1	1E-4	—	11515
2012-07-06 16:48	16:55	17:05	17 min	M1.3	1E-5	S18W51	11515
2012-07-06 11:26	11:30	11:32	6 min	M1.2	1E-5	S20W45	11515
2012-07-06 08:24	08:29	08:32	8 min	M1.8	2E-5	S17W42	11515
2012-07-06 06:17	06:23	06:27	10 min	M1.5	2E-5	S17W40	11515
2012-07-06 00:44	00:51	00:58	14 min	M1	1E-5	—	11515
2012-07-05 23:37	23:40	23:42	5 min	M2.9	3E-5	S18W41	11515
2012-07-05 19:37	19:45	19:51	14 min	M1.6	2E-5	S12W46	11515
2012-07-05 18:09	18:14	18:28	19 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	11515
2012-07-05 11:05	11:18	11:32	27 min	M1.2	1E-5	S16W43	11515
2012-07-05 09:39	09:44	09:49	10 min	M6.1	6E-5	S22E68	11515
2012-07-05 08:44	08:48	08:50	6 min	M1.8	2E-5	S19W30	11515

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 24, 2026 · SHA-256 775bfeb19587…
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