North Pennines Stargazing Week 2020

In 2020 it has not been business as usual, and the continuing impact of COVID-19 means that we are running a very different stargazing experience for 2020. Instead of the usual festival, we are launching ‘North Pennines Stargazing Week’ running throughout the October half-term holiday, from Friday 23 October to Sunday 1 November. There will be a star-studded programme of virtual events, how-to guides and online content to immerse you in the glorious dark skies of the North Pennines AONB.

Visit this page for more information – we’ll be using it as our event hub for the week. Look out for:

• virtual events exploring the dark skies of the North Pennines AONB
• children’s activities
• interviews with experts
• guides to stargazing – where to go and how to do it
• online exhibition
• daily stargazing tips

We’ll be on social media using the hashtags #NorthPennStarWeek20 and #NPennDarkSkies. Why not share your own dark skies images and use the hashtag too? Our daily stargazing tips and how to guides will use the hashtag #backyardstargazing and we’d love you to share your own stargazing adventures with us.

Blogs and features

Live stargazing

Since 2017 we have always run lots of stargazing events across the North Pennines during October half term – part of the North Pennines Stargazing Festival. This year we have decided to do things a bit differently due to COVID-19. The pandemic has obviously had an impact on our ability to run live stargazing events. Currently there are events happening during the week at Grassholme Observatory in Teesdale – find out more here: www.grassholmeobservatory.com. There are also events scheduled to happen at Twice Brewed Stargazing – just to the north of the AONB on Hadrian’s Wall: www.twicebrewedinn.co.uk/stargazing. It’s also worth keeping an eye on the events that Gary Lintern leads under the banner of Stargazing Nights: https://stargazingnights.co.uk. Further afield in Northumberland you’ll find Kielder Observatory – https://kielderobservatory.org and  Battlesteads Dark Sky Observatory – www.battlesteads.com/observatory. Lastly if you’re not based in the North Pennines (and even if you are) Go Stargazing (https://gostargazing.co.uk) is a fantastic resource on all things dark skies and stargazing.