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
1992-02-26 00:33	00:39	00:45	12 min	M1.3	1E-5	S16W90	7073
1992-02-24 22:06	22:34	22:50	44 min	M5	5E-5	N07E29	7070
1992-02-21 20:55	21:06	21:48	53 min	M2.2	2E-5	N05E65	7070
1992-02-21 09:14	09:20	09:53	39 min	M2.5	2E-5	N04E73	7070
1992-02-21 01:20	03:30	04:30	190 min	M3.2	3E-5	—	—
1992-02-20 16:49	17:09	17:43	54 min	M1.5	2E-5	N04E57	7067
1992-02-19 14:34	14:43	15:20	46 min	M1.2	1E-5	N04E70	7067
1992-02-19 02:34	02:55	03:56	82 min	M3.7	4E-5	N04E85	7067
1992-02-18 15:53	16:07	16:27	34 min	M1.2	1E-5	N02E75	7067
1992-02-18 13:32	13:48	13:50	18 min	M1.1	1E-5	N15W51	7058
1992-02-18 13:05	13:12	13:18	13 min	M1.5	2E-5	N10W49	7058
1992-02-18 12:19	12:34	13:04	45 min	M1.1	1E-5	S07W54	7056
1992-02-18 07:44	07:47	11:26	222 min	M1.9	2E-5	N13W49	7058
1992-02-17 15:50	15:57	18:04	134 min	M1.7	2E-5	N17W78	7050
1992-02-17 14:38	14:46	14:57	19 min	M1.9	2E-5	N16W81	7050
1992-02-16 23:21	00:28	01:49	148 min	M4.2	4E-5	S16W28	7056
1992-02-16 14:34	14:49	15:50	76 min	M1.9	2E-5	S12W21	7056
1992-02-16 11:31	11:37	12:18	47 min	X1.4	1E-4	S13W17	7056
1992-02-16 02:20	02:49	03:26	66 min	M1.2	1E-5	S14W15	7056
1992-02-15 20:26	20:39	21:20	54 min	M5.5	6E-5	S16W13	7056
1992-02-15 07:34	07:40	07:53	19 min	M1.2	1E-5	S15W08	7056
1992-02-15 04:13	04:18	04:30	17 min	M1.3	1E-5	S12W01	7056
1992-02-14 22:04	22:10	22:42	38 min	M7	7E-5	S13E02	7056
1992-02-14 20:40	20:52	21:09	29 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
1992-02-14 12:56	13:02	13:08	12 min	M1.1	1E-5	S13E07	7056
1992-02-11 03:20	03:24	03:28	8 min	M1.8	2E-5	S13W86	7042
1992-02-10 21:07	21:15	21:18	11 min	M1.4	1E-5	—	—
1992-02-09 04:38	04:45	04:55	17 min	M1.3	1E-5	S24E54	7052
1992-02-09 01:56	02:05	02:14	18 min	M1.2	1E-5	S17W74	7035
1992-02-07 12:14	12:35	12:41	27 min	M1.5	2E-5	—	—
1992-02-07 10:41	10:59	12:13	92 min	M3.7	4E-5	S20W53	7039
1992-02-06 19:51	20:02	20:22	31 min	M4.1	4E-5	—	—
1992-02-06 17:53	17:59	18:01	8 min	M6.6	7E-5	S15W43	7039
1992-02-06 12:47	12:56	13:47	60 min	M2.1	2E-5	S03E33	7048
1992-02-06 08:39	09:48	11:01	142 min	M4.4	4E-5	S13W10	7042
1992-02-06 02:11	02:29	03:43	92 min	M7.6	8E-5	N05W82	7030
1992-02-05 19:16	19:32	21:00	104 min	M3.1	3E-5	S15W31	7039
1992-02-05 12:14	12:19	12:43	29 min	M2.2	2E-5	S15W26	7039
1992-02-05 05:32	05:45	06:38	66 min	M1.1	1E-5	N05W69	7030
1992-02-04 02:53	03:03	03:21	28 min	M1.6	2E-5	N06W59	7030
1992-02-03 08:58	09:26	11:27	149 min	M1.1	1E-5	S13E30	7042
1992-02-03 05:57	06:01	06:10	13 min	M1.2	1E-5	S11E30	7042
1992-02-02 23:43	23:53	00:24	41 min	M1.6	2E-5	S11E34	7042
1992-02-02 21:44	21:50	22:29	45 min	M1.3	1E-5	S15E39	7042
1992-02-02 14:12	14:20	14:42	30 min	M1	1E-5	S07W45	7031
1992-02-02 08:04	08:08	08:13	9 min	M2.3	2E-5	S11E39	7042
1992-01-31 18:14	18:17	18:55	41 min	M1.9	2E-5	S03W24	7031
1992-01-31 17:49	18:03	18:12	23 min	M1.5	2E-5	N07W25	7032
1992-01-30 18:34	18:54	20:40	126 min	M2.4	2E-5	S07W06	7031
1992-01-30 15:58	16:15	17:04	66 min	M1.6	2E-5	S13E84	7042

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