In-person Live Streaming RI Christmas Lectures at Heart of Newhaven

We’re delighted to announce we are one of the livestream venues for this year’s CHRISTMAS LECTURES from the Royal Institution. Running for 200 years, the CHRISTMAS LECTURES were started by Michael Faraday to inspire and engage young people with science, and this year leading space scientist Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock as she takes us on an epic voyage through time and space.

This event is perfect for all the family! Children and people of all ages can come and watch the magic of the Lectures unfold in real time as they’re filmed in front of an audience in the Ri’s Theatre in London.

Joined by a host of very special guests - from astronauts to history-making astronomers - Maggie will explore the extraordinary breakthroughs that have revolutionised our understanding of the universe, enabling us to see ever further into space, and ever further back in time.

She will reveal just how far our understanding of space has come in the two centuries the Ri CHRISTMAS LECTURES have been around – looking back on previous Lectures on astronomy – from the first of these in 1826 to the 1977 lectures hosted by famed astronomer Carl Sagan, when the only known planets at that time were the eight in our solar system (thought to be nine at the time).

In this iconic anniversary year these lectures will be a true celebration – of our universe and of the astounding human endeavours that are allowing us to solve its mysteries.

In the second lecture, our search for extraterrestrial life continues as viewers are taken on a whirlwind tour through our Solar System—from the blazing Sun to the edge of the ‘heliosphere’ where space becomes interstellar. Dame Maggie delves into historic and current missions to planets like Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the gas giants, highlighting the growing evidence that moons such as Europa and Titan may harbour conditions suitable for life. Lecture two celebrates landmark space missions, such as the Voyager probes, and explores the evolution of our understanding of planetary science. The discoveries made along this cosmic journey underscore how much we have learned—and how much remains to be discovered.