A LEADING professor will head for the Allen Valleys next month to launch an eagerly-awaited observatory project.

Prof. Chris Welch, who teaches at the International Space University in Strasbourg, will open the Allen Valleys Community Observatory on October 6.

The high-tech facility will be based at Allenheads Contemporary Arts (ACA), in the old school house in Allenheads village.

Prof. Welch, who is also vice-president of the British Interplanetary Society, will lead a talk titled Space, what is it good for?

The observatory project has been rolled out by the North Pennines AONB Partnership as part of its Allen Valley’s Landscape Partnership Scheme, which has launched various projects over the past three years, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Director of the AONB Partnership Chris Woodley-Stewart said: “In the last couple of years, 16 locations throughout the North Pennines have been officially designated as Dark Sky Discovery Sites. There’s a huge interest in astronomy and we’re very pleased to have been able to fund this observatory.”

Helen Ratcliffe from ACA, who is busy putting the final touches to a sound and visual installation with French artist Caroline Lé Mehauté for the opening of the observatory, said: “The possibilities of what we can do with the observatory are endless. We’ve run innovative arts and educational projects for over 20 years and the observatory will provide us with a great source of inspiration.”