
The flare’s extreme ultraviolet flash. Credit: SOHO
A Legacy of Truth and Light
The Nov. 4, 2003, flare occurred during the declining phase of Solar Cycle 23. Twenty-two years later, we are near the same point in Solar Cycle 25. The downslopes of solar cycles are prime time for big explosions. No one knows why, but it’s true.
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 11/04/2025
THE STRONGEST SOLAR FLARE OF THE SPACE AGE: Twenty-two years ago today, the sun unleashed the strongest solar flare of the Space Age. The underlying sunspot was not facing Earth; otherwise we might have experienced a new Carrington Event. Instead, the debris flew harmlessly off the sun’s western limb:

