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Primaluce SPIDER230 Installation And User Manual

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INSTALLATION AND USER MANUAL
SPIDER230 RADIO TELESCOPE
VERSION 1.1
Update 28-07-2014
!
This instrument is made by PrimaLuceLab iSrl, via Roveredo 20/b, 33170 Pordenone (Italy). For any questions con-
cerning the use, support and warranty information, please refer to the addresses given in the relevant documents.

P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l • V i a R o v e r e d o 2 0 / B , 3 3 1 7 0 , P o r d e n o n e
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Summary of Contents for Primaluce SPIDER230

  • Page 1 INSTALLATION AND USER MANUAL SPIDER230 RADIO TELESCOPE VERSION 1.1 Update 28-07-2014 This instrument is made by PrimaLuceLab iSrl, via Roveredo 20/b, 33170 Pordenone (Italy). For any questions con- cerning the use, support and warranty information, please refer to the addresses given in the relevant documents.
...
  • Page 2 POWER SUPPLY The Spider230 radio telescope has components that require an external power supply: mount and receiver. Do not wet, open or modify the power supply supplied with the instrument. Immediately unplug the power supply if there is any malfunction.
  • Page 3 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Index Verification of components supplied Parts identification Installation: pier Installation: mount...

  • Page 4: Verification Of Components Supplied

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Verification of components supplied Check for the presence of all the components required on the ordering. The included accessories and parts will vary depending on the order.
  • Page 5 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Front support disk Feed horn support with LNB case 4 spacers LNB with feed horn...
  • Page 6 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Finder support for 8x50 finder counterweights shaft Glass Sun filter
...

  • Page 7: Parts Identification

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Parts identification The numbers indicate the name of the component listed below. Read the following sections for details on opera- tion.

  • Page 8: Installation: Pier

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Installation: pier The first part of the radio telescope to be installed is the pier (15) which supports the mount (13). The pier must be installed on a platform.
  • Page 9 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Threaded rods Placed underneath the smaller hole near the bar one of the 3 support disks (21). Screw the M16x35 screws (22) that you can tighten to perfectly horizontal adjust the pier with the aid of a bubble (photo below-right).

  • Page 10: Installation: Mount

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Installation: mount With the pier installed, we can now proceed with the installation and preparation of the mount head (13). Unscrew the 4 screws, sideways, blocking the red flange on the pier and put it under the mount (remember to loosen the azimuth adjustment screws to allow the mount itself for a perfect flange join).
  • Page 11 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Counterweights bar locking Clutch for Declination screw axis Counter-...
  • Page 12 S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Using a German equatorial mount, the Spider230 radio telescope needs to be aligned to the North Star: thus it’s needed to make fine alignment adjustments during the night. It’s still possible to start with a rough alignment even during the day.
  • Page 13 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Recall that the needle of a compass points the magnetic North Pole (the Earth's magnetic field) and not the geo- graphic North (taking as a reference the North Pole).

  • Page 14: Installation: Antenna

    Spider230 has a parabolic antenna that consists of 4 sections (quarter of parable - 1). First of all you need to build the reflector (primary reflector): put on a plane the four quarters (1) and push them together two by two, as in the photo below.
  • Page 15 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l In doing so, make sure that the two coupled quarters to mate best as possible, avoiding small steps between one and the other in the forward facing part of parabolic antenna (to get a better parabolic shape).
  • Page 16 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Tighten first the two top screws for each half (the outer ones - photo below). As before, use the screws with bolts but do not tighten completely, it will be necessary to tighten them later.
  • Page 17 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the support device for equatorial mounts (2) of the parabolic antenna.
  • Page 18 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l To adjust the position of the 4 just inserted screws (to fix the spacers) sliding them in the slot, you can help by in- serting the front support disk (10) and slide the screws until they pass through the holes of the disc itself.
  • Page 19 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Take the front front support (10) and put it on the 4 screws closing it with 4 bolts (1 for each screw) and 4 washers (one for each screw).
  • Page 20 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Then take the 4 support plates: 3 of these have 4 holes (7) and one has 3 holes (8). The plates must be fixed on the edge of the reflector, in correspondence of the pairs of holes (there are 4 pairs of holes spaced 10 cm), using for each hole a M6x30 screw with two washers and one nut (26).
  • Page 21 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the 3 rear tie rods (6): two are 1422mm long and one is 1453mm long. The longer rod must be screwed into the threaded pin pointing in the opposite direction of the counterweights bar, just above the support device for equatorial mounts.
  • Page 22 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the four support rods for feedhorn (5 - all of the same length, 1169mm) and, using for each a M6x16 screw with washer (27), secure them in front of parabolic antenna, one for each of the four plates.
  • Page 23 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Take the second counterweight for Declination axis (4) and insert it into the support device for equatorial mounts, as shown in the figure below.
  • Page 24 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now loosen the friction of Declination movement and rotate the antenna pointing toward the South horizon. Pay attention to the distance between the reflector and the rear part of the mount.
  • Page 25 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Take the feed horn support with LNB case (9), unscrew the 4 M5 silver screws and remove the case. Take the lower part of the support and fix in front of the reflector on the feed horn support rods (5) with 4 M6x16 screws with wa- sher (27 - one for each rod).
  • Page 26 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the RAL10PL receiver box t (20) and place it at the base of the pier. Take the white coaxial cable used to connect the LNB to the receiver.
  • Page 27 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Then tighten again the F connector until the central part of the cable (the copper core called "hot head") is at the height of the outside pin.
  • Page 28 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l LNB box M5 screws to set the box on LNB support 
...
  • Page 29 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the finder support (17) and place it at the end of the Right Ascension counterweights bar. Fix the support to the bar with a safety M12x20 screw (25) and then tighten 3 the M6 grub screws placed laterally in the support.
  • Page 30 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now take the RAL10PL pier support (21) and bring it close to the column. You can attach it to the column using two clamps.

  • Page 31: First Use: Mount Polar Alignment And Finder Alignment

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l First use: mount polar alignment and finder alignment Before you start to use the radio telescope it’s necessary to perform the mount polar alignment and check for per- fect parallelism between finder installed on the mount counterweights shaft and the parabolic antenna.
  • Page 32 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l The display will show "Polaris Position in P.Scope = HH: MM. " This indicates the orientation of the Polar Star in the field of polar scope.
  • Page 33 North Pole with the N-EQ6 SynScan mount supplied as standard with the Spider230 radio telescope (observers in the southern hemisphere follow an almost equal procedure described in the mount user manual).
  • Page 34 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Rear cap Front cap You will notice within a small scope parallel to the mount polar axis. Observe it from the front of the mount, in the point where you have removed the little black cap.
  • Page 35 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now approach the eye to the eyepiece of the polar scope: you'll have to kneel down under the antenna, be careful not to bump the parabola or other mechanical parts of the radio telescope.
  • Page 36 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Then use the azimuth and height mount settings to correctly point the mount. Above we see two examples: If the mount hand pad indicates "Polaris Position in P.Scope = 3:00"...

  • Page 37: First Use: Mount Alignment

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l First use: mount alignment All computerized equatorial mounts, in order to allow the automatic pointing of antenna, will need to be aligned to the stars in the sky.
  • Page 38 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l D) Now the user must choose one or more alignment stars from a list provided by the control hand pad, and then center the selected star adjusting the mount position.

  • Page 39: First Use: Antenna Setup

    First use: antenna setup All the elements that make up the Spider230 radio telescope are pre-assembled and then ready for use after in- stallation. However, to ensure you get the receiving system maximum performance, you need to check some de- tails of the antenna.
  • Page 40 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l In order to archive a greater precision, you can tighten the feedhorn front disc leaving a thicker thread. In this way the collimation rod will be more precisely aligned with the feedhorn axis.
  • Page 41 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l When the collimation rod is pointing to the center of the parabolic antenna, you can unscrew the collimation rod. Be careful not to modify the position or the angle of the feedhorn by removing the rod collimation.

  • Page 42: Ral10Pl Receiver

    S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l RAL10PL receiver The RAL10PL receiver has been developed to work together with Spider230 radio telescope observing the most intense radio sources in the sky at 11.2 GHz frequency. The receiver is composed of a sturdy plastic material con- tainer (IP65, 300mm L x200mm W x 180mm H) which contains the thermo-stabilized receiver and power supply.
  • Page 43 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l When power is on (green LED turns on) the receiver performs a calibration procedure and the initialization of the operating parameters, during which the red LED flashes.
  • Page 44 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l installation. Start the program by selecting the Windows Start button (bottom left of the screen), select "All Pro- grams, "...
  • Page 45 S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l The device defines two serial ports (COM, each of them is connected to Spider230 mount and to RAL10PL receiver), and for the proper control of the radio telescope, you need to define what are the numbers associated with them.

  • Page 46: Radiouniverse Control Software Installation

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l RadioUniverse control software installation The radio telescope is equipped with RadioUniverse, the control software that allows you to control all components of the radio telescope to record the radio waves coming from a specific direction in space and to obtain radio ima- ges of the area of sky you want.
  • Page 47 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l " In the next window summarizes all the information. Click the "Install" button to start the installation of RadioUni- verse.
  • Page 48 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Radio map of the
 Universe Results window Link commands to the radio telescope...
  • Page 49 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l positive values indicate locations west of the Prime Meridian (Greenwich one), while negative values indicate loca- tions east of it.
  • Page 50 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l 1)Scope Type: mount type (for the N-EQ6 select “Synta SkyWatcher Mount”) 2)Track Mode: for observers in the Northern Hemi- sphere choose “EqN”...

  • Page 51: Advanced Functions: Record A Transit

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Advanced functions: record a transit The one of transit is a technique that consists in identifying the object for which you want to record the radio emission, pointing the radio telescope in the sky where the object will be in the near future (eg 30 minutes later) and stop the...
  • Page 52 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l b) Offset of transition (°): size of the offset in degrees of transit, useful if you want to make a transit asymmetric in which the object is not pointed at the center of the transit itself.
  • Page 53 1, then set the parameter "Dec Change (°) " to a value greater than 0 (with the Spider230 radio telescope working at 11.2 GHz frequency that has a resolution capacity of 0.8 degrees, we recommend you to set 0.2 degrees).

  • Page 54: Advanced Functions: Record A Radio-Picture

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Advanced functions: record a radio-picture To record a radio-image, the radio telescope moves continuously by scanning the desired area of the sky and recor- ding, from time to time, the radio emission coming from each pixel that then compose the image.
  • Page 55 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l h) Correct DEC deviation: select this option to adjust the capture of pixels that generate the radio-image based on the position in declination (we recommend that you always enable this option).
  • Page 56 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l In the area where the radio image is generated, you can find a with "On/Off Corr . " selector. This serves to indicate the distance (in degrees) of the calibration point relative to the center of the radio image to be recorded.

  • Page 57: Advanced Functions: Performances Optimization

    Sun and Moon that are two intense radio sources, all other objects (such as Cassiopeia A and Taurus A) are very weak and have an emission just higher than the background noise of the Spider230 radio telescope. For this reason, optimization and proper use of the entire system receiver (antenna and receiver) is essential.
  • Page 58 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now observe the parabolic antenna of the radio telescope and, in particular, the feedhorn shadow relative to the center of the disc.
  • Page 59 The graph below was recorded by keeping Spider230 pointed towards the North Star (thus always to the same point in the sky that does not have radio sources recordable from the radio telescope) for 8 hours. The recording was made under optimum atmospheric conditions, without any cloud in all the recording period.
  • Page 60 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l It’s possible to note how the receiver temperature affects in an important way the recorded data (when the tempe- rature of the receiver increases, the recorded value decreases and vice versa).

  • Page 61: Advanced Functions: Create A Radio-Map With Ruviz

    P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Advanced functions: create a radio-map with RUviz When you want to record the faint radio waves coming from radio sources outside of the Solar System, the data processing is critical.
  • Page 62 - Show 2D Graph: shows graph with the values of one of the transits (to change the displayed transit, just click with the right button of the mouse on the desired part of radio-map). - Show Beam Width: shows the size of the antenna beam (relative to Spider230 with 11,2 GHz receiver). 
...
  • Page 63 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l At the bottom left you will find the 3D visualization of the processed data. You can change the display using the left mouse button and moving the mouse cursor itself.

  • Page 64: Experiments: The Sun, Radio Waves Source

    Sun” that varies over time and depends on the presence of sunspots or flares. Spider230 lets you check that the Sun emits radio waves. With the radio telescope turned off, install the solar atte- nuator (necessary because instrument high sensitivity would resolute in signal saturation if you point our star wi- thout a "filter").
  • Page 65 S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Click with the right mouse button and select "Sync Antenna". Spider230 will point to the required sky area. Then select the "Raster Image"tab and set a fast record at low resolution, for example 5 columns, 5 rows, resolution 0,5°...
  • Page 66 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l At the end of the recording, uncheck the option "Log received data to file", then go to the directory where you in- stalled RadioUniverse.
  • Page 67 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l In the window that opens, select "Delimited" and press the button "Next". In the next window, select only the op- tion "Semicolon"...
  • Page 68 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now, keeping the selection on all the just calculated cells, place the mouse cursor over one of them, press the mouse right button and select “Cell Format".
  • Page 69 P r i m a L u c e L a b i S r l S p i d e r 2 3 0 u s e r m a n u a l Now you have a set of data that you can easily compare with data recorded even by professional radio telescopes. Some sources available on the Internet: - Nobeyama Radio Observatory: http:/ /www.nro.nao.ac.jp/en/...

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