Under the Hood with PlaneWave Instruments

2017 marks the 10th anniversary of PlaneWave Instruments, one of the world’s premier manufacturers of advanced telescopes for imaging, research, and education. Our interview begins at the company’s headquarters in Rancho Dominguez, California, where President & CEO Richard Hedrick gives us a tour of the facilities and a detailed look at some of PlaneWave’s newest offerings, including the L Series mounts and especially the 1-meter CDK reflector. During a stop in the optical shop, Master Optician Joseph Haberman talks about the CDK design and shows us some of the equipment used to grind, polish, and test the telescope mirrors. We then travel to Deerfield, Michigan, to meet with Kevin Iott. There we take a look at the facilities where most of the mechanical parts for the telescopes are designed, manufactured, and assembled with special emphasis on the machining of the fused silica mirror blank for the new 1-meter telescope.