|
Oceanside Photo & Telescope Astronomical Society (OPTAS) is an organization dedicated to providing education, guidance, and experience to amateur astronomers everywhere. OPTAS is sponsored by Oceanside Photo & Telescope, a San Diego area telescope and camera retailer that is widely known for it's history of educational programs in astronomy. Our members come from all walks of life and enjoy the hobby of astronomy in many different ways. In other words, OPTAS is a club that offers a host of benefits to people with various levels of experience in astronomy...from the total beginner to those with decades of observing under their belts.
OPTAS is proud to co-sponsor a Public Star Party every month out at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park. Club members enjoy this site as well. In fact, several OPTAS members share their knowledge and telescopes with hundreds of children, students, parents, and beginning amateur astronomers that attend these popular star parties. San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park is located just east of the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It is relatively close when compared to most observing sites, but even so, has suprisingly dark skies. Special talks take place every evening before the observing begins, and there are always lots of telescopes available to show attendees the wonders of the universe.
Club members also enjoy monthly star parties at our dark-sky site in the Anza-Borrego Desert. This is a great place to get-away-from-it-all, but unlike our Public Star Party site, it is remote and there are no facilities of any kind. Instead, we get a larger helping of darkness, peace, quiet, and coyotes.
The world is a much smaller place since OPTAS began in 1980. Back then, our events & various benefits, such as star parties & discounts at OPT, could only be enjoyed by those who lived nearby. But that was then and this is now! While it is still preferable to attend star parties in person, there are many ways to participate in a group setting from anywhere on the planet these days and to share in other benefits as well.
- An informative, fun, quarterly newsletter, available online or in paper form (click the link for a sample of the newsletter).
- Discounts on a wide variety of astronomical & photographic products.
- Free yearly inside tour of Palomar Observatory.
- The ability to share astrophotos with fellow members via our website.
- Access to all areas of the OPTAS website, including archives, special member forums, an events calendar, and more.
- Enjoy this website! You will find links to all of our programs at the top of this page. We encourage you to take a look around and come back often, as we are growing all the time. If you have any questions, or are an OPTAS member and would like to be a part of our website administration team, please contact Penny via email or by phone at 1-800-483-6287.
|