TELESCOPES at the ready, 140 amateur astronomers have settled in for a long look at the starry skies.

Kielder village in north Northumberland is the venue for the 18th Star Camp and interest grows with every one.

Spring in Kielder means a long-distance gaze at the galaxy, and autumn a meander through the Milky Way.

Since launching in 2003, the Star Camps have become a major event on the UK astronomy calendar.

Kielder is one of the three largest star camps in the country but there is a more significant meaning to the stargazing sessions.

Kielder Water & Forest Park is bidding to become Britain’s first Dark Sky Park, and Northumberland National Park Europe’s largest Dark Sky Reserve, and the star camps in the Northumbrian outpost are a major factor in the bid, demonstrating as they do the quality of the dark sky above England’s northernmost county.

Richard Darn of the Forestry Commission at Kielder said: “We are unique here in that we have the park and reserve together and even the only other Dark Sky Park in Britain, at Galloway in south west Scotland, hasn’t until recently had the same sort of event surrounding it as this.

“But Kielder has been there from the beginning and is on the map internationally as a Dark Sky location. In spring it’s the galaxy, and in autumn it’s the Milky Way – from an astronomical point of view, you see different objects.

“Astronomers of all levels come here, from beginners on their first visits to experts with telescopes that cost more than cars.

“There is such a groundswell for astronomy at the moment.

“And with the Dark Sky application going in, it demonstrates the quality of the astronomy experience there is here at Kielder.”

Thousands of visitors now come annually to Kielder, and especially the Observatory, which opened in April 2008.

Observatory director Gary Fildes, who was behind the start of the Star Camps over a decade ago, said: “They took off very quickly. We are getting lots of people in now, and it really does show the interest in astronomy that there is today.

“The Observatory is getting 10,000 to 12,000 visitors a year, and the Observatory and the star camps are really important for the area.”

This week’s Star Camp, supported by Sunderland Astronomical Society, runs until tomorrow.