Museums Victoria is responsible for the state’s scientific and cultural collections, providing public access through three museums.
We also oversee a wide range of research programs, the continued development of the state’s collections, and run major education and research based websites.
We are the largest public museums organisation in Australia.
Look towards north after sunset and the two gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, can be seen among the stars. Jupiter is named for the Roman king of the gods and its great size allows it to shine with…
The famous “faceless fish”, which garnered worldwide headlines when it was collected by the expedition.
Rob Zugaro
Surveying the bottom of the ocean turns out to be far from easy. But there was something wonderful about seeing animals we have only read about in old books.
Foggy winter morning at Sugarloaf Reservoir, Victoria.
Melbourne Water/flickr
We’ve just passed another winter solstice. Wednesday June 21 was the shortest day of the year. I live in Melbourne, so we had just 9 hours and 32 minutes of daylight, and it was dark and grey, so we certainly…
ESO provides new ways to access the southern sky for Australian astronomy.
ESO/José Francisco Salgado
On Thursday evening, May 4, we’ll get our second chance to see the Moon pass directly in front of the bright star Regulus. From across Australia, the star will appear to blink out of view before emerging…
The truth is we don’t really know if space goes on forever – but maybe, one day, we will find out.
Sweetie187/flickr
People used to think that when they looked up at the night sky, they were seeing all of space. Then American astronomer Edwin Hubble found out something so amazing, NASA named a telescope after him.
The ABC is encouraging us all to get out and observe the sky with their exciting Stargazing Live series to air April 4-6 with Professor Brian Cox and involving many astronomers across Australia. Here’s…
Pluto is a dwarf planet but that doesn’t make it any less worthy of our attention.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
A group of astronomers are trying to reclassify Pluto as full ‘planet’. But there are good reasons to leave our classification system alone, and this doesn’t mean Pluto is any less interesting.
Turn your eyes to the Moon this weekend.
Karen Arnold
Across Australia, on the evening of February 11/12, the Full Moon will travel directly in front of the bright star Regulus. For about an hour, the star will be hidden from view as the Moon passes by. This…
Patience can be rewarded as with this composite of the 2016 Geminids meteor shower, seen over Mt Teide volcano on the Canary Islands, off Spain.
Flickr/StarryEarth
A beautiful full moon will grace our skies on Monday November 14 this year. Full moons always rise around sunset, so look for it towards the east during evening twilight. Every month, occasionally even…
The International Space Station caught gliding across the starry sky.
Paul Williams/flickr
Look west in the evening sky and Venus is almost impossible to miss, shining with a brilliant steady light. In fact, it is so bright it’s often mistaken for a plane. On the evening of Friday October 28…
With all data sent back to Earth, Rosetta signs off and descends to the comet’s surface.
ESA
Last Friday, September 30, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission, which explored the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, reached its final conclusion and was heralded a resounding success. The…
An artist’s impression shows the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system.
ESO/M. Kornmesser
Astronomers have found an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. So any chance that planet may be habitable?
A trio of planets, Jupiter (top), Venus (bottom left) and Mercury (bottom right) as seen from La Silla Observatory, Chile on May 26, 2013.
Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO
A fantastic lineup of planets has been visible over the past few weeks. Glance upwards just after sunset and all five bright planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – the only planets that can…
The Earth’s only steadfast companion.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/flickr
The Earth has one steadfast companion – the moon has been locked in orbit around the Earth since its violent formation more than four billion years ago. However, Earth’s gravity can also tug on small nearby…
All five planets can be seen across the evening sky during August.
Museum Victoria/Stellarium
After sundown from late July through August, there’s the chance to see five planets at once in the evening sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the only planets in our solar system bright…
Found you! The new dwarf planet caught moving through the image frames over a span of three hours.
OSSOS team
What’s round, orbits the sun and resides in the heavily-populated parts of our solar system such as the asteroid belt or the Kuiper belt? It’s a dwarf planet, and astronomers have just discovered a new…
D’étranges organismes au chapeau gélatineux ont été découverts dans des fonds marins au large de l’Australie. Les scientifiques ont mené l’enquête. Surprise, surprise !
Jupiter and its Great Red Spot.
NASA, ESA, and M. Kornmesser.
Look towards the north-west after sunset and there is currently one bright point of light that easily stands out relative to everything around it. That is the planet Jupiter, shining with an intense and…