Quierschieder Weg 38, 66280 Sulzbach anfrage@apm-telescopes.de

APM Professional Telescopes

1m F/8 Ritchey Chrétien with dual Nasmyth Foci, Cape Town (South Africa)

Another large telescope for the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). An 1m F/8 Alt-Az mounted Ritchey Chrétien for robotic use. It has dual Nasmyth Foci. The main telescopes used for research are located at the SAAO observing station (32°22.795’S 20°48,657’E) near Sutherland in the Northern Cape, a 4-hour drive from Cape Town.

Astronomy is our job

Observatory Telescopes

Big prime focus telescopes for private or public observatories including installation and full service.

Robotic / Remote

Robotic instruments for automatic imaging or telescopes for remote observation.

ASA Telescopes

ASA600 with DDM200

ASA600 OTA is the perfect fit for the ASA direct drive mounts with absolute encoders. As all ASA telescopes the ASA600 is equipped with quartz glass optics from ASA.

More

ASA Mounts

ASA Direct Drive Technology

No gears NO belts. Precise closed loop control.

In professional astronomy direct drive technology has been used for some years now. We developed our own direct drive controller and motor system. No gears or belts are needed, there is no transmission no periodic error or backlash.

On the picture on the right you can see a completely, in-house CAD- and CNC-manufactured rotor of a direct drive motor for a telescope.

ASA DDM Mounts: No gears NO belts. Precise closed loop control.

Direct drive means

Fast acceleration – necessary for satellite tracking
very stable and stiff
precise pointing and tracking
longer life expectancies because there is no wear & tear (since no moving parts)
low to no-sound operation
low power consumption

Increased efficiency:

The power is not wasted in friction (from the belt, chain, etc., and especially, gearboxes).

Reduced noise:

Being a simpler device, a direct-drive mechanism has fewer parts which could vibrate, and the overall noise emission of the system is usually lower.

Longer lifetime:

Having fewer moving parts also means having fewer parts prone to failure

Faster and precise positioning:

High torque and low inertia allows faster positioning with permanent magnet synchronous servo drives.

Drive stiffness:

Mechanical backlash, hysteresis and elasticity is removed by avoiding the use of gearboxes

High torque at low rpm:

All ASA mounts have high precision absolute encoders on all axes.

APM Professional Telescopes

1m F/8 Ritchey Chrétien with dual Nasmyth Foci, Cape Town (South Africa)

Another large telescope for the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). An 1m F/8 Alt-Az mounted Ritchey Chrétien for robotic use. It has dual Nasmyth Foci. The main telescopes used for research are located at the SAAO observing station (32°22.795’S 20°48,657’E) near Sutherland in the Northern Cape, a 4-hour drive from Cape Town.