Hera Overview
Once upon a time, scientific data was hard to find and took
alot of time to analyze. In astronomy, data was originally recorded on
fragile photographic plates at telescopes spread out all over the
world. You can imagine how hard it was to transport and share this
data! In the late 20th
century, most data collection (from both satellites and Earth-based
telescopes) became computerized, but it required special
software to analyze, and only the astronomers who built the
equipment could easily analyze it. Near the turn of the century,
however, much of the data and software became standardized and placed
into easily accessible computerized archives. Now many more
astronomers can look at data originally acquired by
satellites they hadn't directly worked on. Today, the data and
software are becoming accessible to students.
Hera is an interface to software and data provided by the High Energy
Astrophysics Science Archive Reseach Center at NASA/Goddard Space
Flight Center. The data are from satellites which detect x-rays and
gamma rays from objects such as black holes, neutron stars, galaxies,
and supernovae. This interface has been adapted for use by students,
educators, amateur astronomers and the general public, and allows them
to use the same software that astronomers use on the same data sets
that astronomers analyze. These data may be used for extensions of
classroom lessons, science fair projects, research projects, etc.
These web pages will guide you through using Hera to investigate a
scientific problem. First time users should start by reading the
introduction section in order to gain necessary background information
on the science and the data and software. The installation
instructions can then be followed to install Hera on your local
computer, if that has not been done for you. Once Hera is installed,
the File Utilities section will guide you in
accessing the Hera tools to get basic information on data files. Once
familiar with Hera and comfortable with its use, you can begin your
scientific investigation, using Hera's Analysis
Tools. Throughout, there are exercises to help acquaint you
with the science, the data, and the software tools.
This first project deals with finding and interpreting periods in
x-ray binaries. Future projects on spectral and image analysis are
being developed.
|
