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

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
1992-10-27 00:43	00:50	00:59	16 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
1992-10-26 23:11	23:20	23:25	14 min	M1	1E-5	S27W15	7321
1992-10-26 16:54	17:16	18:35	101 min	M4.5	4E-5	S24W11	7321
1992-10-22 23:54	00:03	00:15	21 min	M4.1	4E-5	N00W20	7315
1992-10-19 16:51	16:59	17:11	20 min	M1.1	1E-5	N06E23	7315
1992-10-10 06:10	06:20	06:39	29 min	M2.1	2E-5	S08W11	7306
1992-10-07 13:56	14:04	14:07	11 min	M1.1	1E-5	S07E26	7306
1992-10-07 09:06	09:12	09:21	15 min	M1.3	1E-5	S07E30	7306
1992-10-07 06:51	06:59	07:07	16 min	M1	1E-5	S07E32	7306
1992-10-07 04:01	04:07	04:17	16 min	M3.1	3E-5	S06E33	7306
1992-10-05 14:09	14:22	15:01	52 min	M1.4	1E-5	N11E33	7305
1992-10-05 08:13	08:31	08:56	43 min	M2	2E-5	—	—
1992-10-04 21:11	21:27	21:38	27 min	M2.4	2E-5	S05W90	7293
1992-10-02 06:47	06:51	06:54	7 min	M1.4	1E-5	S17E48	7301
1992-09-17 18:41	18:51	19:02	21 min	M1.2	1E-5	N16W48	7276
1992-09-17 09:12	09:21	09:30	18 min	M1.1	1E-5	N14W44	7276
1992-09-16 12:49	12:55	13:03	14 min	M1.2	1E-5	N13W33	7276
1992-09-16 08:09	08:21	08:27	18 min	M1	1E-5	N14W30	7276
1992-09-11 04:03	04:09	04:16	13 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
1992-09-11 00:53	01:02	01:09	16 min	M1	1E-5	—	—
1992-09-10 20:30	20:57	21:07	37 min	M3.2	3E-5	N12E41	7276
1992-09-09 15:56	16:03	16:43	47 min	M1.9	2E-5	S11W78	7270
1992-09-08 23:53	00:13	00:49	56 min	M3.1	3E-5	—	—
1992-09-08 16:16	17:28	18:17	121 min	M1.2	1E-5	S10W66	7270
1992-09-08 10:04	10:08	10:27	23 min	M2.6	3E-5	N15E68	7276
1992-09-08 06:01	07:00	07:46	105 min	M1.5	2E-5	S11W63	7270
1992-09-07 20:57	21:06	21:21	24 min	M2.9	3E-5	S10W59	7270
1992-09-07 19:04	19:11	19:14	10 min	M3	3E-5	N17E85	7276
1992-09-07 17:25	17:41	19:08	103 min	M5.7	6E-5	S11W57	7270
1992-09-07 11:00	11:11	11:41	41 min	M3.8	4E-5	S09W58	7270
1992-09-07 06:46	06:59	07:19	33 min	M1.2	1E-5	S09W49	7270
1992-09-07 04:28	04:37	06:01	93 min	M7.1	7E-5	S08W52	7270
1992-09-07 01:35	01:54	02:07	32 min	M3.6	4E-5	S10W49	7270
1992-09-06 21:35	21:39	21:43	8 min	M1.3	1E-5	—	—
1992-09-06 18:48	18:59	19:14	26 min	X1.3	1E-4	S11W46	7270
1992-09-06 16:41	16:52	18:00	79 min	X1.7	2E-4	S11W41	7270
1992-09-06 15:10	15:14	15:37	27 min	M1.1	1E-5	S11W41	7270
1992-09-06 12:56	13:24	13:38	42 min	M1.1	1E-5	S09W40	7270
1992-09-06 11:04	11:13	11:27	23 min	M1.4	1E-5	S13W40	7270
1992-09-06 09:45	09:58	10:45	60 min	M4	4E-5	S11W42	7270
1992-09-06 07:00	07:07	07:29	29 min	M3.3	3E-5	S11W38	7270
1992-09-06 04:51	05:02	05:16	25 min	M1.3	1E-5	S13W32	7270
1992-09-06 03:13	03:19	03:30	17 min	M2.4	2E-5	S09W39	7270
1992-09-06 00:23	00:38	00:55	32 min	M1.1	1E-5	S09W37	7270
1992-09-05 23:55	00:03	00:11	16 min	M1	1E-5	S10W32	7270
1992-09-05 14:13	14:24	14:36	23 min	M1.1	1E-5	S09W26	7270
1992-09-05 09:20	09:32	10:00	40 min	M4	4E-5	S08W21	7270
1992-09-04 21:44	21:52	22:06	22 min	M2.5	2E-5	—	—
1992-08-21 09:53	10:00	10:25	32 min	M1.9	2E-5	N16W43	7260
1992-08-21 08:56	09:10	09:31	35 min	M1	1E-5	N14W40	7260

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