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What can we see in the sky? What are stars? What does our solar system look like? And how do we know all of this? Travel deep into the universe across the three levels of the Astronomy exhibition.

Exhibition closed

The second half of the building is currently being renovated, which is why this area has been closed since 29 June 2022. The modernisation of the building is scheduled to be completed in 2028, the 125th anniversary of the museum's founding.

What is Astronomy?

The “science of the stars” begins with observing nature. It deals with what we can see in the sky – both during the day and at night. For example, the rising and setting of the celestial bodies, the seasonal changes in our night sky, the sun, the Earth’s moon, the planets and their moons, comets, the countless other stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the numerous other galaxies.

For millennia, astronomers observed the sky directly with their own eyes. They studied and surveyed the arrangement and movement of the stars precisely. This enabled them to create calendars and to provide travellers with orientation during journeys. The invention of the telescope around 400 years ago, the introduction of photography and spectroscopy in the 19th century and the advent of astronautics in the 20th century have all been milestones for our knowledge about space.

Today, we have an even broader perspective: now, it’s all about the understanding of the universe as a whole, its formation and its structure. Astronomers use telescopes in space for their observations. They pick up radiation that was emitted billions of years ago in the unimaginably distant depths of the universe. Scientific space probes, the Hubble Space Telescope and large telescopes on the ground have given us fantastic images of far-away worlds.

In this exhibition, you can find various themes related to astronomy on three levels: the universe and the night sky, astrophysics and instruments, stellar evolution, amateur astronomy, the sun and the solar system, and cosmology. The exhibition is complemented by a planetarium and two observatories.

4.2 light yearsis the distance to the nearest fixed star, Alpha Centauri.

13 billion light years is the distance to the furthest quasar observed to date.

8.3 light minutes. is the distance to the sun.

Astronomy – Exhibition Themes

Model on a scale of 1:25 of Tycho Brahe’s Uraniborg observatory on the island of Ven/ Denmark.

The Universe and the Night Sky

The road to infinity.

Universe/ Night Sky
Engineering model of the ROSAT X-ray satellite in its original size.

Astrophysics and Instruments

Dispersing starlight

Astrophysics and Instruments
Instruments for determining positions in the night sky.

Stellar Evolution

The birth and death of stars.

Stellar Evolution
The Andromeda galaxy.Large-Scale Structures in the Universe
[Translate to English:] Modell der Sonne in der Ausstellung Astronomie.

The Sun and the Solar System

Our star and planetary clockwork.

The Sun and the Solar System
View inside the exhibition.

Cosmology

A journey in time through our cosmos.

Cosmology

Experience Astronomy live!

Görz telescope in the Observatory East.

Don’t miss out!

“Pursuing astronomy means reading God’s mind.”
Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)

Tour through the Astronomy Exhibition

Curator Tour

Curator Christian Sicka guides you through the Astronomy exhibition in this 30-minute video. The film is currently only available in German.

Research Sheets for Children and Families

Download

Astronomy Publications

Publication

G. Hartl, K. Märker, J. Teichmann, G. Wolfschmidt

Astronomie

Wie kann man Astronomie am spannendsten erklären? Wie die Abteilung des Museums stellt auch das Buch allgemein interessierende Fragen: Was sehen wir am Himmel? Was sind Sterne? Wie entwickeln sie sich? Woher kommt die Energie der Sonne? Wie sieht unser Planeten-System aus? Wie haben sich Kosmos und Leben entwickelt? Und woher wissen wir das alles?

Facts

  • Exhibition area: 1,100 sqm
  • Opening of the first Astronomy exhibition: 1925
  • The exhibition is on Level 3–5

Exhibits on “100 Years Planetarium”

Ptolemäisches Planetarium von Sendtner

From: Michael Sendtner; Glas- und Spiegel-Manufaktur N. Kinon

Date: 1906

Kopernikanisches Planetarium von Sendtner

From: Michael Sendtner; Glas- und Spiegel-Manufaktur N. Kinon

Date: 1906

Astrolabium von Heinrich Höing

From: Höing, Heinrich

Date: 1598

Himmelsglobus von Rohrbach und Reimer

From: Rohrbach, Carl Martin Gustav; Dietrich Reimer (Berlin)

Date: 1896

Erdglobus in Armillarsphäre von Caspar Vopelius

From: Vopelius, Caspar

Date: 1545

Himmelsglobus von Johann Georg Klinger

From: Klinger, Johann Georg; Bauer, Johann Bernhard

Date: 1790

Himmelsglobus von Gerhard Mercator

From: Mercator, Gerhard

Date: 1551

Astrolabium von Erasmus Habermel

From: Habermel, Erasmus

Date: 1588

Planetariumsprojektor Modell I von Carl Zeiss Jena

From: Bauersfeld, Walther; Carl Zeiss <Jena>

Date: ca. 1921

Any Questions?

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