Kielder Observatory to receive almost £25,000 towards installing a new radio telescope

Kielder Observatory is set to receive almost £25,000 towards installing a new radio telescope.

It is hoped the funding from Northumberland County Council will allow 10,000 pupils to access facilities at the site over three years.

This also includes an aim to improve accessibility to astronomy and astrobiology classes.

John Riddle, county councillor for Bellingham and cabinet member for Local Services, said: "I want to extol the virtues of the Kielder Observatory and the dark skies project.

"It's great for educational purposes, the outreach will be fantastic and it's also a very good tourist attraction, open almost every day of the year now, [which] was never envisaged when it first started.”

Catherine Johns, CEO of Kielder Observatory, said the scheme would "democratise access to radio telescopes so anyone can contribute to citizen science projects and academic research."

Planning permission to install the five-metre-diameter radio telescope was granted in August last year.