Flare
Description
This graph visualizes four years (01/01/2017-12/31/2020) of data collected by the GEOS satellite about Solar Flares (FLR). The data was gathered using the NASA API Space Weather Database Of Notifications, Knowledge, Information (DONKI) https://api.nasa.gov/DONKI/FLR?startDate=2017-01-01&endDate=2020-12-31&api_key=8IkzhrWDICIDZVvJ5fCe2kZ5QWWptfKkSdp1qxoZ.
Solar flares are flashes of increased brightness on the Sun's surface, usually near a sunspot (darker areas on the surface, with lower temperature but higher magnetic field), and are often but not always followed by Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). If a flare happens in the direction of earth, it will cause bright auroras; if followed by a CME, it can pose a danger to satellites and astronauts. FLRs are divided into five categories based on the number of x-rays produced. From weaker to stronger, the classes are A, B, C, M, X. The strength of an event within a class is indicated by a number between 0 and 9 (for example, M4.4).
The graph only visualizes B, C, M, and X events since no A event has been recorded in the time I decided to analyze. B events are green and have a lower wave amplitude, while Xs are red and have a higher amplitude to symbolize the higher power and danger. In each group, events are stacked based on their relative strength within their class. Perlin noise was added to give a sense of movement as the solar flare is traveling through space
Reflection
If I have to be honest, I don't think my code reflects any feminist data principles. I'm a massive space nerd and really wanted to do something space-related for this project. If we want to associate one of the feminist principles to it, I guess it would be the second one, "Challenge Power" as the code doesn't necessarily follow the instructions given for this assignment ; )