Leiden will turn off the lights for Seeing Stars on September 25th

(Video: Robert Bourse).

Leiden, March 25, 2022, 6:01 pm By Editors

Artist Daan Roosegaarde has announced the date of the project “Seeing Stars Leiden”. The intention is for a portion of Leiden to turn off the lights on Sunday 25th September to make the stars visible. At least, if it’s not cloudy.

For this reason, September 25th is mentioned as the target date. In Franeker, where the project was first implemented last year, the eclipse was postponed several times due to too much cloud cover. September 25 was chosen because the moon is in the right position, it darkens early and with a bit of luck you can see Jupiter and Saturn.

The project will initially focus on the area around the observatory. Artist Roosegaarde hopes to bring out as many lights as possible in a larger part of Leiden. This also includes street lighting, shop windows and office buildings.

The municipality is still looking into the possibilities. Alderman Yvonne Van Delft has previously announced that she does not expect the entire center to be darkened. “You really have to organize a lot to do something like this in a good and safe way and that just isn’t possible in a very large area.”

The project falls under the umbrella of Leiden European City of Science 2022. Director of Meta Knol: “Seeing the stars makes it possible to establish a new connection with the stars and each other. A group project in which the whole city works together to turn off the lights and turn on the stars. A project where we ask questions, count the stars and approach the Science. We invite everyone to join, because we dream of looking at the stars together.”

Leiden Science