The New Web-Based Hera Data Processing System at the HEASARC

The HEASARC at NASA/GSFC has hosted an on-line astronomical data processing system called Hera for several years. Hera provides a complete data processing environment, including installed software packages, local data storage, and the CPU resources needed to support astronomical research by external users. The original design of Hera was based on a 'client/server' model which required that the user a) download and install a small helper program on their own computer before using Hera, and b) ensure that several non-standard computer ports/sockets be open for communication through any local firewalls on the user's machine. Hera has now been redesigned to eliminate these restrictions by operating within a purely Web-based environment which is accessed via a standard Web browser. Web-Hera is available at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/webHera.