One Hundred Year Star-Diary

Artist Alec Finlay has been commissioned by the Kielder Partnership and Culture10 to create a major collaborative project with the Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society (KOAS) coinciding with the opening of Kielder Water and Forest Park's new Observatory on Black Fell, Northumberland.

ONE HUNDRED YEAR STAR-DIARY is a calendar that details all the major astronomical events visible from the earth between 2008-2108, mapping and dating the major celestial events in the northern and southern hemisphere during that period; eclipses, occultations and transits, comets and near-Earth objects.

The stars, thousands of scattered tiny points of light, are the largest thing we will ever see; larger than our mind has any way of comprehending; and when we consider the stars we gain an imaginary viewpoint, realising that our home, the earth, is suspended in cosmic space. The Star-Diary is a practical book, for observing and making notes, and it is an invitation to take the leap into spacetime. – Alec Finlay

People have always measured the passage of time according to the stars and celestial events – we remember eclipses and comets as if they were communal birthdays. ONE HUNDRED YEAR STAR-DIARY is a book to last someone's entire life; a book that will outlive many of us; a book to gift to a child, to hand on from one generation to another.

ONE HUNDRED YEAR STAR-DIARY has been prepared in collaboration with Professor Ray Sharples (Durham University), Denis Moskowitz, and members of the Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society. The publication will be available to coincide with the launch of the Observatory 25 April, 2008 and will be preceded by a series of billboard posters announcing key star events, presented in the North of England.

In addition to the diary, a text work by Finlay will be installed on the blades of the wind turbine that provides power to the Observatory, and a series of prints derived from the billboard posters will permanently hang within the Observatory building. Also included on this site is the text of an interview, The Stars Before We Herd Them Into Constellations, where artist Alec Finlay and Tom Shakespeare discuss the concepts behind the development of the Star Diary project.

ONE HUNDRED YEAR STAR-DIARY has been published by Platform Projects/Morning Star and is available by request from www kielder-observatory.org and www.alecfinlay.com

Published 25th April 2008, RRP £15.00

The official launch of Kielder Observatory is part of North East England’s world-class culture programme of festivals and events, and is funded by One NorthEast and Northumberland Strategic Partnership.

DEVELOPED BY THE KIELDER PARTNERSHIP: THE CALVERT TRUST, FORESTRY COMMISSION, NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL, NORTHUMBRIAN WATER, TYNEDALE COUNCIL & COMMUNITY GROUPS