What a remarkable year we’ve had here at Kielder Observatory. Our most successful ever, with tens of thousands of you coming to see our magical venue under some of the darkest skies this planet has to offer. Our team has grown from strength to strength, with so many new and wonderful volunteers joining our ranks, as well as full time staff members in our new office in the heart of Newcastle, where Kielder’s plans for the future are now taking shape.

What a remarkable year we’ve had here at Kielder Observatory. Our most successful ever, with tens of thousands of you coming to see our magical venue under some of the darkest skies this planet has to offer. Our team has grown from strength to strength, with so many new and wonderful volunteers joining our ranks, as well as full time staff members in our new office in the heart of Newcastle, where Kielder’s plans for the future are now taking shape.

It’s a time of year for showing others just how much you appreciate what they have done, so from all of us on the Kielder team, we’d like to send a heartfelt thank you to our Trustees, without whom, we’d not be able to bring our plans to fruition. Our supporters who have helped us fund raise so much via charity auctions, and on-line support.

Our volunteers, who truly are the life blood of the observatory, giving so much of their time to help out, our team of staff astronomers and admin, who man the phones, the emails and work tirelessly on making sure Kielder is the award winning visitor experience you come to see.

In 2014, we hosted an Apollo legend in Sy Liebergot, who’s presence helped us raise a lot towards our goal, and we also spoke to many other inspirational astronauts, which you can see in our Apollo Tribute video, which we made as a lasting legacy to humankind’s greatest achievement.

Our own goal is not quite on the scale of Apollo, but for us, it’s pretty close. We are dreaming the dream, daring mighty things, and aiming to do something never achieved before… with your help, we know we can do it!

In 2015, our plans for the future will start to take shape. Taking Kielder from where it is now to become the greatest public observatory in the world is our dream, our goal and our mission. Without you, our fantastic visitors, none of this would have been made possible.. so again, we thank you most of all.

Keep an eye out for our exciting events during 2015, linking in with some major astronomical phenomena, such as eclipses, and comets, to name but two.

See you in the new year.

The Kielder Observatory Team