GOES Solar Flare Catalog, X-ray Viewer and Event Explorer
NOAA has published solar flare event data for decades, but accessing it was never easy. Official listings were scattered, hard to filter, and not designed for quick exploration. No simple, fast, browser-based tool existed to search 50 years of events in one place. These tools were built to fill that gap.
Everything runs entirely in the browser. No login, no registration, no data sent to any server. The underlying data comes from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).
Available tools
Solar flare classification: A, B, C, M and X classes
Solar flares are classified by their peak X-ray flux as measured by the GOES XRS-B channel (1-8 Angstrom wavelength band). The classification system uses letters A, B, C, M and X, each representing a tenfold increase in peak flux.
| Class | Peak flux (W/m²) | Typical effects |
|---|---|---|
| A | 10⁻⁸ to 10⁻⁷ | No significant effects on Earth |
| B | 10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁶ | Negligible effects, minor ionospheric absorption |
| C | 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁵ | Weak radio blackouts on the sunlit side of Earth |
| M | 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁴ | Moderate radio blackouts (R1-R2); associated CMEs may cause geomagnetic disturbances |
| X | > 10⁻⁴ | Strong to severe radio blackouts (R3+), solar energetic particle events; major CMEs possible |
Within each class, a numeric suffix gives the precise flux level. For example, an M5.3 flare has a peak flux of 5.3 x 10⁻⁵ W/m². X-class flares above X10 are sometimes labeled X10+. Geomagnetic storms are caused by associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs), not by the flare radiation itself.
GOES satellite coverage (1975-present)
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), operated by NOAA, have provided continuous solar X-ray flux monitoring since 1975. The catalog uses the primary operational satellite for each period.
First-generation XRS coverage
Fluxes from GOES-08 to GOES-15 are rescaled (x0.85 A-band, x0.70 B-band) to match the legacy NOAA/SWPC flare classification scale. GOES-16 and GOES-18 use native calibration.
Data sources
All event data is sourced from official NOAA SWPC listings:
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center - primary event catalog
- Recent events refreshed automatically from a live feed
- Plutino catalog - independent compilation with extended metadata
- Berretti et al. (2025) - ASR catalog with independent classification
About the author
These tools were built and are maintained by Mauricio Romero, researcher in atmospheric electricity. The goal was simple: make NOAA solar flare data actually accessible. The official data exists, but navigating the portals, finding the right files and filtering events across decades is unnecessarily cumbersome. These tools remove that friction.
If you find these tools useful for your research or teaching, a mention or link is always appreciated.
Feedback and feature requests
Have a feature request, found a data issue, or want to suggest a new tool? Share it here →