Kielder Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in

Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority o ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated high upon Black Fell overlooking Kielder Water near the Scottish border, and half a mile up a forest track from James Turrell's Kielder

Skyspace A skyspace is an architectural design in which a room, which is painted in a neutral color has a large hole in its ceiling which opens directly to the sky. The room, whose perimeter has benches, allows observers to look at the sky in such a way a ...

. The site was chosen due to its pristine night skies in a location free of

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

with clear views to all horizons, and is one of the best places in the UK to view the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

. The observatory's design is the result of a competition managed by

RIBA Competitions RIBA Competitions is the Royal Institute of British Architects' unit dedicated to organising architectural and other design-related competitions. Architectural design competitions are used by an organisation that plans to build a new building or re ...

which was won by

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based Charles Barclay Architects. The building is powered by solar panels and a wind turbine. It won the RIBA Award for its architecture in 2009 and also that same year a

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

. The observatory is administered by the Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society, a registered charity comprising a board of Trustees and 10 permanent members of educational delivery staff. They are responsible for the delivery of the event schedule and coordinating a large group of volunteers who assist in running the public events that are hosted at the facility.

History

Kielder Forest was a popular place for stargazing before the construction of the observatory, with the

Kielder Forest Star Camp The Kielder Forest Star Camp is an annual star party held each autumn and spring in Kielder Forest. The five night event is based on the Kielder Campsite. Free talks on astronomy are held at nearby Kielder Castle on the Saturday. The event started ...

being an annual event there. Amateur astronomer Gary Fildes, who had been involved with the Star Camp, began advocating for an observatory to be built within the forest, leading a campaign that eventually raised several hundred thousand pounds in order to pay for construction. Kielder Observatory was officially opened on 25 April 2008 by Sir Arnold Wolfendale, the 14th

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

, and in its first year entertained approximately 1200 guests with numbers growing "astronomically" in 2014 nearing 20,000 visitors, thus making it one of the top tourist destinations in Northumberland. In 2018, Kielder Observatory expanded to accommodate construction of the Gillian Dickinson Astroimaging Academy. Kielder Observatory also runs educational outreach activities in schools throughout the region via a project co-funded by various local authorities. In 2019, Kielder Observatory was awarded funding and contract for delivery in the North of Tyne Combined Authority district. In 2021, Kielder Observatory constructed a new telescope, a Radio2Space Radio Antenna, donated by the Tanlaw Foundation. This project is intended to educate the general public on

Radio Astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation comin ...

and assist teaching programmes in schools.

Staff

The science communication team at the observatory consists of a mixture of practical / observational astronomers and astrophysicists. *Dan Pye - Director of Astronomy and Science Communication *Daniel Monk - Director of the Gillian Dickinson Astro-imaging Academy *Eleanor Macdonald - Science Lead *Adam Shore - Education Lead

Awards

Northumberland What's On Where Award 2015 - Best Visitor Attraction

North East Tourism Awards 2014 - Small Visitor Attraction (Silver Award)

Visit England Gold Award 2013 - Kielder Water Forest Park

References

External links

*
Kielder Observatory on Twitter

Civic Trust Award Page on the Observatory

Kielder Forest Star Camp

Kielder Observatory listing on Go Stargazing
{{Portal bar, England, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Buildings and structures in Northumberland Amateur astronomy organizations Astronomical observatories in England Infrastructure completed in 2008 Tourist attractions in Northumberland Recipients of Civic Trust Awards

History

Staff

Awards

See also

References

External links