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
2003-04-09 21:23	21:29	21:34	11 min	M2.5	2E-5	S10W78	10326
2003-04-04 17:05	18:19	18:40	95 min	M1.9	2E-5	S11W40	10324
2003-03-20 10:25	10:31	10:37	12 min	M1.5	2E-5	S04W75	10314
2003-03-19 12:25	12:32	12:38	13 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	10314
2003-03-19 08:34	08:53	09:00	26 min	M3.7	4E-5	S15W57	10314
2003-03-19 05:36	05:46	05:49	13 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	10314
2003-03-19 01:58	02:07	03:21	83 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	—
2003-03-18 10:51	11:08	11:20	29 min	X1.5	2E-4	S15W46	10314
2003-03-18 04:51	05:00	05:02	11 min	M2.5	2E-5	S15W46	10314
2003-03-17 23:30	23:37	23:42	12 min	M1.6	2E-5	S15W44	10314
2003-03-17 17:50	18:05	18:16	26 min	X1.5	2E-4	S14W39	10314
2003-02-14 08:07	08:18	08:23	16 min	M1.2	1E-5	N13W86	10284
2003-02-06 02:30	02:49	03:01	31 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	—
2003-02-01 07:48	08:05	08:38	50 min	M1.2	1E-5	—	10276
2003-01-24 02:12	02:27	02:40	28 min	M1.9	2E-5	S22E10	10266
2003-01-23 11:28	11:43	11:49	21 min	M2.5	2E-5	S22E17	10266
2003-01-23 03:42	03:48	03:56	14 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
2003-01-22 03:35	03:44	03:50	15 min	M1.2	1E-5	N15W05	10260
2003-01-21 13:59	14:26	14:52	53 min	M1.9	2E-5	—	—
2003-01-09 04:32	04:37	04:44	12 min	M1	1E-5	S14E64	10251
2003-01-07 22:25	22:33	22:40	15 min	M4.9	5E-5	—	10251
2003-01-07 06:29	06:50	07:11	42 min	M1	1E-5	S24E07	10244
2002-12-22 01:14	01:52	02:12	58 min	M1.1	1E-5	N23W42	10223
2002-12-20 12:13	12:18	12:20	7 min	M6.8	7E-5	S25W34	10226
2002-12-19 20:34	20:53	21:17	43 min	M2.7	3E-5	N15W09	10229
2002-12-18 05:31	05:42	05:56	25 min	M2.4	2E-5	S28W03	10226
2002-12-17 21:57	22:35	22:45	48 min	M1.6	2E-5	S27W00	10226
2002-12-16 22:33	22:36	22:40	7 min	M1.3	1E-5	N06W08	10227
2002-12-16 21:45	21:55	22:20	35 min	M1.9	2E-5	S27E10	10226
2002-12-16 10:07	10:15	10:26	19 min	M2.5	2E-5	—	10225
2002-12-10 11:19	11:26	11:31	12 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
2002-12-04 21:41	21:49	21:57	16 min	M2.5	2E-5	N16E61	10213
2002-11-20 16:15	17:07	17:09	54 min	M1.4	1E-5	S19E24	10198
2002-11-18 01:01	01:08	01:11	10 min	M7.4	7E-5	S17E56	10198
2002-11-17 13:39	13:54	13:59	20 min	M2	2E-5	S18E62	10198
2002-11-15 00:06	00:24	00:34	28 min	M2.4	2E-5	—	—
2002-11-14 21:21	21:26	21:30	9 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
2002-11-13 22:03	23:17	23:52	109 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
2002-11-12 17:41	17:56	18:03	22 min	M2.9	3E-5	S11W76	10180
2002-11-11 14:11	15:20	15:45	94 min	M1.8	2E-5	S13W60	10180
2002-11-11 06:25	06:33	06:39	14 min	M2.9	3E-5	S12W53	10180
2002-11-10 02:04	02:21	02:35	31 min	M2.4	2E-5	S12W37	10180
2002-11-09 12:08	12:23	12:36	28 min	M4.6	5E-5	S12W29	10180
2002-11-03 12:41	13:03	13:27	46 min	M1.3	1E-5	N14E25	10177
2002-10-31 15:47	15:52	15:55	8 min	X1.2	1E-4	—	—
2002-10-31 08:18	08:26	08:39	21 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	10175
2002-10-29 02:01	02:20	02:38	37 min	M1.1	1E-5	N31W51	10162
2002-10-28 11:00	11:05	11:11	11 min	M1.7	2E-5	N23W61	10162
2002-10-25 15:23	15:47	16:22	59 min	M1.5	2E-5	N28W11	10162
2002-10-22 13:29	13:35	13:51	22 min	M1	1E-5	N28E27	10162

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