Introduction: ↗︎ The Sidereal Library / Stjernebiblioteket is a temporary library at the Harestua Solar Observatory comprised of a variety of books from about fifty contributors, each contributed with their own observations, wonderments, and ideas pertaining to humanities relation to outer space — and earth — through proposing one or several books, texts etc. which and aims at giving the visitors an insight into the different thoughts and ideas on outer space, and how humanity has tried, and still tries, to understand it through stories, fiction, research, wonder, and staring up into the night sky. Perhaps one can imagine the Sidereal Library as an ark, an archive, or the subjective musings on humankind’s thoughts and ideas on outer space, but at the same time a space of fantasy, possibilities, and brand new thoughts and ideas. Like that hope of new possibilities and realities one can trace in the starry sky being reflected in thoughts and actions down here on earth. The library will therefore also be a reminder of our earthly existence, and the ideas still being made anew here, and in the end the project becomes just as much about each visitors own thoughts and relation to the earth, our culture, and the ties that bind us together, no matter how far apart we may seem to drift.
When you visit the Sidereal Library you will be able to borrow the books so that you bring it home and explore new galaxies, novel ideas, new realities, find new possibilities, and create your very own ideas and thoughts on outer space and the earth. Or you can sit down in the library and let the books, the place itself, the Harestua Solar Observatory, bring you out into the unknown.
Through the project, the books that make up the Sidereal Library, those who contributed them, you, who read them, or you who quickly leaf through them become a part of sidereal history, a measurement of time we can only measure by earthly standards, but which also surpasses it, that continues indefinitely, a story about a group of people underneath the stars, thinking of outer space, and making a difference here on earth. The project is initiated by artist Marius Moldvær (NOR).

The books we’ve chosen, are two very different ways of looking at the world, written by one of our favorite writers: ↗︎ McKenzie Wark: ↗︎ Molecular Red: A Theory for the Anthropocene (2015, Verso Books) and ↗︎ Raving (Duke University Press, 2023). While the first, Molecular Red, is about a decade old, but with renewed relevance; it looks at the world through more sociopolitical perspectives, situating nature (and us) — the ↗︎ anthropocenic — as point of departure. The book is also not devoid of brighter and more utopian thoughts about the future, which is particularly refreshing these days. Raving is a fairly recent (2024) release and follows scenes that mainly exhibit themselves within club spheres — a both escapistic space and sphere of potential, told through a transnarrative. Wark has a very unique way of writing where the driest things become experienced as funny, warm — and interesting. Highly recommended.”

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Welcome to the opening of the Harestua Solar Observatory, Saturday, 28 February 2025 from 13:00 to 16:00. There will be a bonfire, but please bring warm clothes, food and drink, and you can go sledding down to the station if you would like some adrenaline. You can also use the free bus shuttles to the Observatory from Harestua Station at 13:00, 14:00, and 15:00, returning at 14:20, 15:20, and 16:20. To reserve a seat please visit the Solar Observatory online.
For opening hours the next months: The library will be open till August corresponding with the other events and sky watching sessions at Solar Observatory. Please keep an eye on the activity ↗︎ here.

The Sidereal Library is initiated by Marius Moldvær in collaboration with The Harestua Sun Observatory, and generously supported by Akershus fylkeskommune through the support scheme ↗︎ Regionalt kulturfond.

Thank you: The Artists at ↗︎ Aurora Verksted who have sculpted the one-of-a-kind book stands inspired by outer space, space crafts, and their very own imaginations. ↗︎ Patrick Grung and ↗︎ Arbeidsstasjonen who designed and built the shelves and table for the Sidereal Library.

The Harestua Solar Observatory (Solobservatoriet) is Norway's largest astronomical facility and was operational from 1954 to 1986. It is located near Harestua in a forest 580 meters above sea level. At the time it was built, it was located as close to Oslo as possible without light pollution from the city interfering with observations. It has one of the world's largest solar telescopes: a 20-meter-high tower used to observe solar activity, which is 12 meters above ground and 8 meters below. It hosts other telescopes and instruments, including a spectrograph, a satellite observation building, and radio antenna. The observatory closed in 1986, and has been a cultural heritage site since 2016.
At the moment, the observatory is closed to the public. But beginning in August 2025, you will be able to visit, attend special events, partake in different activities both within the buildings and in the surrounding forest, experience the historically significant research facilities, and explore outer space from a mountaintop in Harestua.

The photograph in the Sidereal Library’s logo is collected from ↗︎ the first photograph ever taken of a star, the star Vega in the constellation of Lyra, photographed on the 17 July 1850, by John Adams Whipple at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO).