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

Year

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Start (UTC)	Peak	End	Duration	Class	Peak flux (W/m²)	Position	Active region
1992-08-20 22:13	22:18	22:32	19 min	M1.3	1E-5	N18W34	7260
1992-08-20 18:30	18:46	19:20	50 min	M3	3E-5	N16W33	7260
1992-08-20 14:54	15:30	16:06	72 min	M1.9	2E-5	N17W34	7260
1992-08-20 12:25	12:37	12:58	33 min	M4	4E-5	N15W29	7260
1992-08-20 07:01	07:21	08:31	90 min	M2.9	3E-5	N16W27	7260
1992-08-12 00:29	00:34	00:37	8 min	M1	1E-5	S13W51	7248
1992-08-11 20:22	20:28	20:46	24 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
1992-08-03 08:07	08:12	08:18	11 min	M2.3	2E-5	S09E63	7248
1992-08-03 04:25	05:06	05:20	55 min	M4.8	5E-5	S09E68	7248
1992-08-02 20:46	21:03	21:26	40 min	M1.6	2E-5	S11E64	7248
1992-07-18 11:38	11:44	11:56	18 min	M2	2E-5	—	—
1992-07-18 00:42	00:50	00:55	13 min	M1	1E-5	N09W13	7227
1992-07-16 14:53	15:00	15:12	19 min	M6.8	7E-5	S10W61	7222
1992-07-14 10:16	10:26	10:54	38 min	M2.7	3E-5	S13W21	7222
1992-07-14 08:14	08:23	08:38	24 min	M1	1E-5	N20E41	7229
1992-07-09 14:35	14:44	14:55	20 min	M6.7	7E-5	S13E28	7220
1992-07-08 07:42	07:50	08:26	44 min	X1.2	1E-4	S11E46	7220
1992-07-07 09:15	09:40	10:21	66 min	M4.1	4E-5	S11E57	7220
1992-07-05 23:45	23:54	00:27	42 min	M3.9	4E-5	S12E79	7220
1992-07-05 21:35	21:41	21:58	23 min	M1.4	1E-5	S09E85	7220
1992-07-05 20:02	20:12	20:35	33 min	M1.9	2E-5	S12E78	7220
1992-07-05 17:56	18:00	18:16	20 min	M1.1	1E-5	S13E81	7220
1992-07-03 07:01	08:00	08:52	111 min	M2.1	2E-5	—	—
1992-06-28 11:53	12:24	13:03	70 min	M1.6	2E-5	—	—
1992-06-28 02:45	03:14	04:20	95 min	X1.8	2E-4	N11W90	7205
1992-06-28 00:13	01:44	02:23	130 min	M1.1	1E-5	—	—
1992-06-26 02:07	02:15	02:23	16 min	M1.2	1E-5	N14W74	7205
1992-06-25 17:51	18:14	18:57	66 min	X3.9	4E-4	N09W67	7205
1992-06-25 15:49	15:57	17:04	75 min	M1.4	1E-5	N10W70	7205
1992-06-25 04:16	05:40	07:00	164 min	M1	1E-5	N08W64	7205
1992-06-08 06:26	06:49	06:58	32 min	M1.5	2E-5	N10W05	7186
1992-06-06 23:34	23:48	00:14	40 min	M2.7	3E-5	N09E10	7186
1992-05-08 13:12	13:46	14:10	58 min	M7.4	7E-5	S26E08	7154
1992-05-05 18:06	18:15	18:28	22 min	M1.4	1E-5	S25E45	7154
1992-05-04 18:08	20:57	23:09	301 min	M1.1	1E-5	S27E54	7154
1992-05-04 09:20	09:36	10:17	57 min	M1.3	1E-5	S07W57	7150
1992-05-03 06:48	06:58	07:05	17 min	M1	1E-5	S07W38	7150
1992-04-24 17:17	17:20	17:22	5 min	M1.2	1E-5	N13W00	7138
1992-04-24 10:43	10:53	11:04	21 min	M1.4	1E-5	N09E05	7138
1992-04-21 23:03	23:20	23:42	39 min	M1.4	1E-5	S16E39	7139
1992-04-20 03:20	03:28	03:46	26 min	M1	1E-5	S16E37	7135
1992-04-17 21:14	21:27	21:39	25 min	M1.1	1E-5	S17E69	7135
1992-04-01 15:24	15:48	17:00	96 min	M3.9	4E-5	S09W56	7116
1992-04-01 08:12	08:17	08:26	14 min	M2.3	2E-5	—	—
1992-03-31 22:49	23:00	23:14	25 min	M5.6	6E-5	S09W45	7116
1992-03-31 13:28	13:45	14:29	61 min	M3.5	4E-5	S10W41	7116
1992-03-15 00:22	00:54	03:50	208 min	M7.8	8E-5	S14E29	7100
1992-02-29 19:32	19:47	20:28	56 min	M1.7	2E-5	S13W27	7072
1992-02-27 08:45	08:56	11:38	173 min	X3.3	3E-4	N06W02	7070
1992-02-26 21:58	22:42	23:21	83 min	M1.3	1E-5	N06W01	7070

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