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 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) · 10/25/26 Current · provisional

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 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) · 10/25/26 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) · 10/25/26

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
2003-11-20 00:47	01:12	01:28	41 min	M1.4	1E-5	N03W08	10501
2003-11-19 02:55	03:01	03:06	11 min	M1.7	2E-5	N01E06	10501
2003-11-18 08:23	09:11	10:01	98 min	M4.5	4E-5	—	—
2003-11-18 07:12	07:31	07:59	47 min	M3.9	4E-5	—	10501
2003-11-18 06:23	06:52	07:06	43 min	M3.2	3E-5	S04E16	10501
2003-11-18 00:34	00:39	00:42	8 min	M1.8	2E-5	—	10501
2003-11-17 07:55	08:05	08:19	24 min	M4.2	4E-5	S01E33	10501
2003-11-17 00:28	00:34	00:39	11 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
2003-11-13 08:03	08:29	09:02	59 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
2003-11-13 03:54	04:01	04:06	12 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	10501
2003-11-11 12:21	12:51	13:17	56 min	M1.6	2E-5	S03W61	10498
2003-11-05 09:46	09:52	09:56	10 min	M5.3	5E-5	S16W90	10486
2003-11-05 01:37	01:41	01:45	8 min	M1.6	2E-5	S19W89	10486
2003-11-04 18:29	18:50	19:06	37 min	X28	3E-3	S19W83	10486
2003-11-04 12:43	12:49	13:01	18 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	10486
2003-11-04 09:11	09:22	09:33	22 min	M3	3E-5	—	10488
2003-11-04 04:43	04:56	05:07	24 min	M2.6	3E-5	—	—
2003-11-03 14:26	14:32	14:43	17 min	M3.9	4E-5	S15W79	10486
2003-11-03 08:43	08:55	09:19	36 min	X3.9	4E-4	N08W77	10488
2003-11-03 00:09	00:30	00:45	36 min	X2.7	3E-4	N10W83	10488
2003-11-02 16:03	16:25	16:39	36 min	X8.3	8E-4	S14W56	10486
2003-11-02 11:30	11:47	12:12	42 min	M1.8	2E-5	—	10488
2003-11-02 05:59	06:53	07:12	73 min	M1	1E-5	—	10486
2003-11-01 21:26	21:38	21:49	23 min	M3.2	3E-5	S12W60	10486
2003-11-01 16:42	16:51	17:08	26 min	M1.1	1E-5	N09W50	10488
2003-11-01 07:39	07:52	08:06	27 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	10488
2003-10-31 05:08	05:16	05:28	20 min	M1.1	1E-5	N08W28	10488
2003-10-31 03:26	03:33	03:37	11 min	M2	2E-5	—	—
2003-10-30 14:15	14:28	14:37	22 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	10486
2003-10-30 00:56	01:07	01:29	33 min	M1.6	2E-5	N08W22	10488
2003-10-29 19:37	19:49	20:01	24 min	X10	1E-3	S15W02	10486
2003-10-29 03:08	04:11	04:54	106 min	M3.5	4E-5	S17E06	10486
2003-10-28 23:26	00:51	01:08	102 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	10486
2003-10-28 08:51	10:10	10:24	93 min	X17	2E-3	—	10486
2003-10-27 20:46	20:51	21:05	19 min	M1.9	2E-5	N08E09	10488
2003-10-27 11:27	11:43	11:52	25 min	M6.7	7E-5	—	10486
2003-10-27 08:21	08:27	08:32	11 min	M5	5E-5	S16E26	10486
2003-10-27 06:51	07:33	08:24	93 min	M2.7	3E-5	N00W45	10484
2003-10-27 03:12	03:39	04:08	56 min	M1.2	1E-5	N00W44	10484
2003-10-26 20:34	20:40	20:48	14 min	M7.6	8E-5	N01W38	10484
2003-10-26 16:21	17:19	18:21	120 min	X1.2	1E-4	N02W38	10484
2003-10-26 13:15	13:20	13:24	9 min	M1	1E-5	N05W33	10484
2003-10-26 04:57	05:54	06:33	96 min	X1.2	1E-4	—	10486
2003-10-25 08:26	08:35	08:45	19 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	10484
2003-10-25 03:44	03:53	04:26	42 min	M1.7	2E-5	N00W15	10484
2003-10-25 02:17	02:46	03:28	71 min	M1.2	1E-5	S15E43	10486
2003-10-24 19:35	19:40	19:45	10 min	M1	1E-5	N05W09	10484
2003-10-24 16:42	16:56	17:05	23 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	10486
2003-10-24 03:04	03:10	03:16	12 min	M4.2	4E-5	S24E74	10486
2003-10-24 00:27	00:54	01:14	47 min	M7.6	8E-5	S19E72	10486

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