Orange County Astronomers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Orange County Astronomers is a non-profit organization from Orange County, California, whose main purpose is to spread knowledge and appreciation of the science of astronomy.

The non-profit club began 35 years ago and has grown to over 800 members. Meetings are held on the second Friday evening of every month at Chapman University in Orange, California. Keynote lecturers include world-renowned speakers from such places as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech and NASA.

Orange County Astronomers has an extensive observing facility on a 20 acre plot of land far away from the lights of the city. In this place, near the small town of Anza, California members can see skies from a location where the Milky Way is still visible to the naked eye.

This dark-sky site is just a two-hour drive from Orange County. It includes an array of facilities: the main observatory building with its 22-inch Cassegrain telescope, members observatories, members observing pads, public observing areas and a large mobile home with kitchen and bath facilities.