Astronomy

58 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2018

when you order a PlaneWave CDK.

Hedrick has brought on board many

extremely skilled associates, and the tele-

scopes are a result of this symbiotic

team’s numerous different specializations

— including optics, mechanical engineer-

ing, software, and electronics.

PlaneWave’s staff constantly

experiments with new designs and

telescopes to bring to the public. At the

2017 Advanced Imaging Conference

in San Jose, California, they showed off

the company’s new L Mount. This

innovative design uses direct-drive

motors and can support up to a 24-inch

telescope. In the future, the staff foresees

computerized optics machines capable

of producing mirrors and lenses that

standard procedure. Technicians assemble

these in Michigan before shipping them to

California, where the optics are installed

and final testing occurs.

Not surprisingly, the 12.5-, 14-, and

17-inch telescopes are the big sellers. These

instruments are ideal for amateurs with

limited resources, while the larger scopes

typically find their way into university

observatories and research departments.

Would I like a 24-inch CDK that I could

operate remotely on some 7,000-foot-high

mountaintop with sub-arcsecond seeing

and an automated dome? Of course. But for

me, imaging is a hobby, and a more modest

telescope with a roll-off roof will suffice.

What’s great about PlaneWave is that it has

a product for everyone, and the quality is

the same all up and down the line.

Looking ahead

PlaneWave is striving to reinvent the tele-

scope for the future, just as it has for the

past 10 years. Its goal is to bring excellence

to both mass and specialized markets.

The new technologies that drive the 1m

telescope, for example, trickle down to the

more modest amateur-sized instruments.

And working with the smaller instruments

helps develop cost-saving innovations that

technicians can apply to the big scopes.

Such cross-pollination streamlines the

manufacturing of all products, resulting in

better telescopes at more affordable prices.

If PlaneWave had a collective motto, it

might be “inventing the new frontier.”

meet or exceed the finest hand-figured

versions.

To validate the quality of ideas and

products, most new products are tested

at Rowe’s ranch at Cima Dome in the

Mojave Desert. As skilled astrophotogra-

phers themselves, it is important to the

creators that they use the product before it

becomes public.

All the metal pieces for the telescopes

are manufactured in Michigan under the

watchful eye of Kevin Iott, the company’s

chief mechanical engineer. When the

metal parts are finished, they are shipped

to a facility in California, where assembly

and optical manufacturing take place.

However, the huge 1m and 700 Series

scopes are notable exceptions to this

To ny H a l l a s is one of the world’s top astroim-

agers and a contributing editor of Astronomy.

An employee tweaks a Hedrick focuser. This

massive accessory can support up to 40 pounds

(18 kilograms) of equipment.

This PlaneWave 24-inch corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope is ready to ship to an excited customer.

Joe Haberman stands behind a 1m primary

mirror inside one of the company’s polishing

machines.

The tertiary mirror in the 1m telescope

allows the optical path to travel through

one of the altitude bearings.