Radio telescope PrimaLuceLab Spider500P

Radio telescope PrimaLuceLab Spider500P.

From our professional experience we know that sky exploration is becoming more and more attractive for a growing number of amateurs with different levels of experience and also, of course, for professionals, as well as for institutions dedicated to space sciences both in research and dissemination.

Now, at PrimaLuceLab and Telescopiomania we are proud to present the new Spider500P professional radio telescope: a new system designed for those amateurs who are already on the borderline with professional astronomers and scientific institutions and who need higher precision and observing capabilities.

After introducing in 2014 the first complete amateur radio telescope available on the market, the Spider230, capable of recording radio maps of the Universe, we now bring you the new Spider500P professional radio telescope with its impressive 5-meter diameter parabolic antenna!

The Spider500P professional radio telescope is a fantastic complete instrument that is supplied ready for immediate use, equipped with all the necessary components to record radio waves coming from space at 1.42 GHz frequency, with radiometer (for continuous recordings with 20 MHz band) and spectrometer.

The Spider500P antenna is a "primary focus" model, divided into 8 segments (making it easy to mount), with an optimized LNA receiver and a feeder. The antenna, made of an aluminum frame covered with a lightweight mesh, has been specifically designed with the optimum shape to provide the highest accuracy in the reflection of radio waves for easy pickup.

The antenna is designed to operate at 1.42 GHz to avoid atmospheric interference and to record all signals arriving from space.

The Spider500P radio telescope offered by Telescopiomania has a very precise alt-azimuth mount with high torque motors and electronic controls to provide accurate automatic pointing and tracking of radio sources in the Universe. The mount is designed to support a very high payload capacity (up to 150 Kgs), a high quality Goto and high tracking accuracy (maximum 1 arcminute error) controlled by computer, both locally and remotely via the Internet.

All equipment is waterproof so that the Spider500P can operate at full capacity even in bad weather conditions. To ensure the safety of the system, the assembly also includes a special electronic anemometer that automatically "parks" the radio telescope (forcing it into a vertical position) when the wind speed exceeds a preset value.

Spider500P is equipped with a unique custom-built professional radio receiver, very accurate and consistent with both radio spectrometer and radiometer functions, designed to operate at 1420 MHz frequency (21 cm wavelength) for radio astronomy studies.

As a sample of what you can do, in this link you can listen to the radio emission of the great Jupiter, captured by the Telescopiomania team of astronomers with a homemade antenna of infinitely lower quality, so imagine what you can achieve with the Spider500P! In the archive you can hear the emission from the sky background and, as soon as the antenna is pointed at Jupiter, the change is very noticeable.

Due to its high frequency stability (low local oscillation thanks to positional locking via GPS satellites) the whole system is especially suitable for 21cm spectrometry measurements on the neutral hydrogen line (for mapping neutral hydrogen distribution in the galaxy, for example), for SETI applications and as a radio spectrum monitoring instrument (radio interference map) of the protected frequency of 1420 MHz.

Technical characteristics:

Radio telescope:

• Antenna diameter: 5 m
• Antenna type: primary focus
• Working frequency: 1.42 GHz
• Bandwidth: 20 MHz
• Feeder: yes
• LNB: yes
• A/D converter: 14 bits
• Mount: computerized AZ
• Control knob: no
• Control software: yes
• Dome: NOT required
• Certificates: CE and RoHS

Software:

• Supported operating systems: Windows Vista, 7 and 8 (32/64 bit)
• Image Recording: BMP, FIT
• Transit recording: BMP, CSV
• Memory consimited: 15 Mb
• RAM memory required: 1 Gb
• ASCOM Platform

NOTE: THIS EQUIPMENT IS SUPPLIED UPON REQUEST, ASK FOR AVAILABILITY AND PRICE. The delivery time is about 20 to 30 days from the date of order. In fact this time is necessary for our technicians to pre-install and test all the components of the radio telescope before delivery.

Radio telescope PrimaLuceLab Spider500P.