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

B4.3

2026-10-25 03:33 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) · 10/25/26

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

Catalogued flares

94,036

1975 → 2026-10-25

GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/25/26

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) · 10/25/26

Latest catalogued flare

B4.3

2026-10-25 03:33 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) · 10/25/26

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) · 10/25/26

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) · 10/25/26 GOES X-ray flare lists (NOAA SWPC/NGDC events, yearly compilations by NASA GSFC) · U.S. Government work, public domain (NOAA/NASA) · 10/25/26

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) · 10/25/26

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) · 10/25/26

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
2010-02-08 20:01	20:23	20:28	27 min	M1	1E-5	N23W12	11045
2010-02-08 12:32	12:47	12:50	18 min	M2	2E-5	—	11045
2010-02-08 10:57	11:03	11:06	9 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	11045
2010-02-08 06:36	06:43	06:46	10 min	M4	4E-5	—	11045
2010-02-07 01:20	01:34	01:39	19 min	M6.4	6E-5	N21E10	11045
2010-02-06 20:31	20:37	20:42	11 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	11045
2010-02-06 17:47	17:59	18:09	22 min	M2.9	3E-5	N21E17	11045
2010-01-20 16:50	16:55	17:00	10 min	M3.4	3E-5	S26E81	11041
2010-01-20 09:46	09:59	10:10	24 min	M1.8	2E-5	—	11041
2010-01-20 06:42	06:49	06:53	11 min	M1.6	2E-5	S24E88	11041
2010-01-20 05:45	06:27	06:34	49 min	M1	1E-5	S24E87	11041
2010-01-19 19:23	19:35	19:46	23 min	M1.7	2E-5	—	11041
2010-01-19 12:03	12:41	12:50	47 min	M2.3	2E-5	—	11041
2008-03-25 17:36	17:56	18:13	37 min	M1.7	2E-5	S13E78	10989
2007-06-09 11:30	11:48	12:05	35 min	M1	1E-5	S10W23	10960
2007-06-04 03:06	03:13	03:16	10 min	M8.9	9E-5	S07E51	10960
2007-06-03 04:36	04:41	04:43	7 min	M4.5	4E-5	—	10960
2007-06-03 00:06	00:12	00:16	10 min	M7	7E-5	—	—
2007-06-02 23:51	23:59	00:04	13 min	M2.4	2E-5	S10E68	10960
2007-06-02 08:28	08:35	08:41	13 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
2007-06-02 03:25	04:11	04:19	54 min	M2.5	2E-5	S09E77	10960
2007-06-01 19:40	19:52	19:59	19 min	M2.1	2E-5	S09E82	10960
2007-06-01 12:35	12:59	13:11	36 min	M2.8	3E-5	S08E78	10960
2007-06-01 04:46	04:51	04:59	13 min	M1	1E-5	—	10960
2006-12-14 20:07	21:15	21:26	79 min	X1.5	2E-4	S06W46	10930
2006-12-13 01:14	01:40	01:57	43 min	X3.4	3E-4	S06W23	10930
2006-12-07 17:20	18:13	18:33	73 min	M2	2E-5	S06E45	10930
2006-12-06 19:14	19:19	19:22	8 min	M3.5	4E-5	S06E58	10930
2006-12-06 17:29	17:47	18:00	31 min	X6.5	6E-4	S06E63	10930
2006-12-06 07:02	07:23	08:03	61 min	M6	6E-5	S04E63	10930
2006-12-06 00:30	01:20	01:54	84 min	M1.1	1E-5	S07E69	10930
2006-12-05 09:18	09:35	09:45	27 min	X9	9E-4	S07E68	10930
2006-12-05 06:45	07:03	07:06	21 min	M1.8	2E-5	S07E73	10930
2006-07-06 06:13	06:36	06:51	38 min	M2.5	2E-5	S09W34	10898
2006-04-27 13:22	13:52	13:58	36 min	M7.9	8E-5	S08E26	10875
2006-04-26 14:51	15:02	15:10	19 min	M1.3	1E-5	S08E38	10875
2006-04-06 18:33	18:42	18:50	17 min	M1.2	1E-5	S07W61	10865
2006-04-06 03:22	03:33	03:36	14 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	10865
2005-12-02 19:57	20:19	20:37	40 min	M2	2E-5	—	—
2005-12-02 19:01	19:30	19:52	51 min	M1	1E-5	S03E07	10826
2005-12-02 09:05	09:12	09:25	20 min	M7.8	8E-5	S04E13	10826
2005-12-02 01:42	01:52	02:00	18 min	M6.5	6E-5	S03E19	10826
2005-11-30 16:46	16:52	16:55	9 min	M1.4	1E-5	S03E35	10826
2005-11-17 23:24	23:34	23:46	22 min	M1.2	1E-5	S07E16	10822
2005-11-15 16:22	16:51	17:04	42 min	M1.4	1E-5	S06E48	10822
2005-11-14 20:53	21:00	21:04	11 min	M1	1E-5	S07E54	10822
2005-11-14 13:16	13:21	13:23	7 min	M3.9	4E-5	S06E60	10822
2005-11-14 03:16	03:21	03:27	11 min	M2.6	3E-5	S07E68	10822
2005-11-13 13:29	13:51	13:56	27 min	M2.5	2E-5	S07E77	10822
2005-09-17 03:58	04:05	04:15	17 min	M9.8	1E-4	S10W39	10808

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 25, 2026 · SHA-256 a1d99f7354e3…
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