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The Kennels

The Northern Lights – Nature’s Greatest Light Show with Dr John Mason

Member exclusive

Spend a fascinating evening with an eye to the sky for a fascinating look at the spectacle of the northern lights which appeared over Goodwood for the first time in 35 years earlier this year. Join local ‘Aurora Hunter’ Dr John Mason for an evening of wonder and discovery about Nature’s greatest and most fascinating light show. After a three-course dinner, you will explore the sky at night through Dr Mason's telescope on the Duchess Paddock.

£90 per person

The Northern Lights – Nature’s Greatest Light Show with Dr John Mason

£90 per person

Spend a fascinating evening with an eye to the sky for a fascinating look at the spectacle of the northern lights which appeared over Goodwood for the first time in 35 years earlier this year. Join local ‘Aurora Hunter’ Dr John Mason for an evening of wonder and discovery about Nature’s greatest and most fascinating light show. After a three-course dinner, you will explore the sky at night through Dr Mason's telescope on the Duchess Paddock.

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    THE KENNELS

Overview

On 10 May this year, a truly great display of Northern Lights was visible from Goodwood, the best for 35 years.  What happened to cause such a grand spectacle at this time, and what are the chances that they will be visible again from the south of England in the not-too-distant future? 

Dr John Mason and his interest in the Northern Lights

Dr John Mason’s love affair with the aurora borealis or Northern Lights began on the night of 4&5 August 1972 when there was a rare auroral display visible from his home in Fontwell, near Arundel. 

This display followed a series of powerful solar storms that caused radio blackouts, interfered with satellites in orbit and apparently detonated US Navy mines off the coast of Vietnam. He saw the display beginning as a faint glow to the north just before 11pm. It gradually intensified, a quiet arc developing, then a number of rays and brightening, with blue, pinks and vivid greens. The display reached a climax just after midnight, when pulsating rays stretched across the northern horizon and was so bright that it cast shadows. John was fascinated by this and vowed to learn more about this incredible natural phenomenon.  After graduating from university he studied plasma physics, the formation of the solar wind and its role in affecting comets’ ion tails. Later he extended this to the effects of space weather and the aurora.

From the late 1980s, John started travelling regularly to the Arctic to witness the Northern Lights, to study and photograph its many forms, and later to accompany people who wanted to see them for themselves as a tour guide. He has witnessed Northern Lights displays from Alaska, the Yukon, Iceland and the far northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Seeing them is addictive, almost like a drug, because no matter how wonderful an aurora one has seen, one always hopes for something better the next time!

Join Dr Mason for his fascinating discoveries, alongside a delicious three-course dinner followed by a spot of stargazing on the Duchess Paddock (weather permitting).

Please note, tables for this event may be shared.

What's included?

  • Welcome drink
  • Talk with Dr John Mason
  • Three course dinner
  • Star & planet gazing (weather permitting)