Editing Solar flare (section)

=== Examples of large solar flares ===
{{See also|List of solar storms#Soft X-ray solar flares}}
[[File:ExtremeEvent 20031026-00h 20031106-24h.jpg|thumb|Space weather conditions, including the soft-X-ray flux (top row), during the [[2003 Halloween solar storms]]<ref>{{cite web | title=Extreme Space Weather Events | publisher=[[National Geophysical Data Center]] | url=http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi_greatest.html | access-date=May 21, 2012 | archive-date=May 22, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522031032/http://sxi.ngdc.noaa.gov/sxi_greatest.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

The most powerful flare ever observed is thought to be the flare associated with the 1859 Carrington Event.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Trudy E. |last2=Phillips |first2=Tony |title=A Super Solar Flare |url=https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/ |website=Science News |publisher=NASA Science |access-date=22 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412084331/https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/06may_carringtonflare/ |archive-date=12 April 2010 |date=6 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> While no soft X-ray measurements were made at the time, the magnetic crochet associated with the flare was recorded by ground-based magnetometers allowing the flare's strength to be estimated after the event. Using these magnetometer readings, its soft X-ray class has been estimated to be greater than X10<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cliver |first1=E. W. |last2=Svalgaard |first2=L. |title=The 1859 Solar–Terrestrial Disturbance And the Current Limits of Extreme Space Weather Activity |journal=Solar Physics |date=October 2004 |volume=224 |issue=1–2 |pages=407–422 |doi=10.1007/s11207-005-4980-z |url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA434906/page/n1/mode/2up |bibcode=2004SoPh..224..407C|s2cid=120093108 }}</ref> and around X45 (±5).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Woods |first1=Tom |title=Solar Flares |url=http://lasp.colorado.edu/media/education/reu/2011/docs/talks/Woods_Flare_Lecture_Jun11.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023060752/http://lasp.colorado.edu/media/education/reu/2011/docs/talks/Woods_Flare_Lecture_Jun11.pdf |archive-date=23 October 2015 |access-date=24 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cliver |first1=Edward W. |last2=Dietrich |first2=William F. |title=The 1859 space weather event revisited: limits of extreme activity |url=https://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/pdf/2013/01/swsc130015.pdf |date=4 April 2013 |journal=J. Space Weather Space Clim. |volume=3 |pages=A31 |doi=10.1051/swsc/2013053 |bibcode=2013JSWSC...3A..31C |access-date=31 December 2023}}</ref>

In modern times, the largest solar flare measured with instruments occurred on [[Halloween solar storms, 2003|4 November 2003]]. This event saturated the GOES detectors, and because of this, its classification is only approximate. Initially, extrapolating the GOES curve, it was estimated to be X28.<ref>{{cite web |title=X-Whatever Flare! (X 28) |url=https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_11_04/ |website=SOHO Hotshots |publisher=ESA/NASA |access-date=21 May 2012 |date=4 November 2003}}</ref> Later analysis of the ionospheric effects suggested increasing this estimate to X45.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13844 |title=Biggest ever solar flare was even bigger than thought {{!}} SpaceRef – Your Space Reference |date=2004-03-15 |publisher=SpaceRef |access-date=May 21, 2012 |archive-date=2012-09-10 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910055509/http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13844 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Curto |first1=Juan José |last2=Castell |first2=Josep |last3=Moral |first3=Ferran Del |date=2016 |title=Sfe: waiting for the big one |url=https://www.swsc-journal.org/articles/swsc/abs/2016/01/swsc150071/swsc150071.html |journal=Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate |language=en |volume=6 |pages=A23 |doi=10.1051/swsc/2016018 |bibcode=2016JSWSC...6A..23C |issn=2115-7251|doi-access=free }}</ref> This event produced the first clear evidence of a new spectral component above 100&nbsp;GHz.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kaufmann |first1=Pierre |last2=Raulin |first2=Jean-Pierre |last3=de Castro |first3=C. G. Gimnez |last4=Levato |first4=Hugo |last5=Gary |first5=Dale E. |last6=Costa |first6=Joaquim E. R. |last7=Marun |first7=Adolfo |last8=Pereyra |first8=Pablo |last9=Silva |first9=Adriana V. R. |last10=Correia |first10=Emilia |title=A New Solar Burst Spectral Component Emitting Only in the Terahertz Range |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=10 March 2004 |volume=603 |issue=2 |pages=L121–L124 |doi=10.1086/383186 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2004ApJ...603L.121K |bibcode-access=free|s2cid=54878789 |s2cid-access=free}}</ref>