The Longest Light
21 Jun, 2025
£23 – £25
Soak up the sunshine and close out the longest day of the year in style with Jodrell Bank’s exclusive evening celebration of our closest star!
SUNDOWNER SESSION
17.30 – 21.30. Tickets available here.
The Longest Light evening event turns up the celebrations with an exciting line-up of live music and thought-provoking discussion. Unwind with sundowners and explore the science, significance, and symbolism of the Sun. Includes:
- World-renowned Afrobeat musician Sens Sagna, here to ignite the evening with a powerful fusion of drums and dance
- Expert evening talks exploring all things solar with Professor Philippa Browning – perfect for fans of our Lovell Lecture series
- A brand-new film screening in our immersive Space Dome: The Sun, Our Living Star
- Cyanotype crafting (weather dependent)
- Pre-event optional dining add-on (17.00 – 18.00). More details and booking form here.
Recommended for ages 14+. Tickets also include a summer cooler beverage on entry!
Join us and embrace the sights and sounds of summer, with music, live demonstrations, and activities to bring the Solstice to life. ☀️
Looking to celebrate with the whole family? We also have an exciting programme of events for all ages included with general daytime admission, 10.00-16.00, offering a day out with a difference! Find out more here.
Programme:
17:00: Pre-event dining
17:30-18:00: Welcome drinks
17:45-18:00: Sens Sagna performance
18:00-18:45: Prof. Browning – The Sun from the Stone Age to the Space Age
19:00-19:30: Dome show – The Sun, Our Living Star
19:15-19:30: Sens Sagna performance
19:45-20:15: Drumming workshop
20:00-20:45: Prof. Browning – Solar Flares and Space Weather
20:30-21:00: Drumming workshop
21:00-21:30: Dome show – The Sun, Our Living Star
18:00-21:30: Cyanotype crafting (weather dependent)
18:00-21:30: Solar gazing (weather dependent)
image Immerse yourself in the ‘Rhythm of Life’ as world-renowned Afrobeat musician Sens Sagna ignites the evening with a powerful fusion of drums, dance, and joy. Sens will also be offering hands-on “have-a-go” percussion workshops where you can feel the beat for yourself and experience the power of drumming in a supportive, joyful setting.
Some of the great evening talks on offer by Professor Browning:
The Sun from the stone age to the space age: an exploration into how civilisations have always sought to predict the Sun’s behaviour since prehistory to the modern day. Philippa will delve into Neolithic monuments, the discovery of sunspots, and the latest solar probes flying closer to the Sun than ever before.
Solar flares and space weather: listen as Philippa discusses our current knowledge of flares and how their electromagnetic radiation effects both humans in space and satellites. Find out how power and communication on Earth must adapt, making ‘space weather’ a subject of intense interest.
image Philippa Browning is a Professor of Astrophysics at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. Philippa studies the interactions between magnetic fields and plasmas. She aims to explain why the outer atmosphere of the Sun – the solar corona – is heated to millions of degrees, and to understand the most powerful explosions in the solar system: solar flares.
image Have you ever created a photo with sunlight? Cyanotypes are one of the oldest forms of photography. Invented by astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1842, they work by exposing iron salts to sunlight!
