A view of Shanghai Astronomical Museum in spring. [Photo/WeChat ID: sheshanlvyou]

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum is located on the peak of West Sheshan Mountain in Shanghai Sheshan National Forest Park in Shanghai's Songjiang district.

The Sheshan Observatory, which was erected in 1900, is its predecessor. Sheshan Observatory, China's first modern observatory with a planetarium dome and a large astronomical telescope, is one of the country's most important birthplaces of modern astronomy.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum was founded in 2004 at the Sheshan Observatory by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. The museum is now a national base for astronomy education and an important cultural relics preservation unit.

The centerpiece of the Shanghai Astronomical Museum is a binocular telescope with 40-centimeter refracting lenses that was built in 1900. It is China's earliest large astronomical telescope, and remains one of the country's largest refracting telescopes.

The Sheshan Observatory, which was erected for this telescope, is China's first astronomical observatory dedicated solely to astronomical observation, and it witnessed China's modern astronomical development.

Last year, the Shanghai Astronomical Museum announced a major overhaul of its Sheshan Observatory and one of the highlights is the restoration of the telescope. The telescope will restore its observing capability after the overhaul, and space lovers will have the opportunity to look at the vast sky with this century-old piece of equipment.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum has both historical exhibition and scientific education functions.

Its "Centennial Observatory" exhibition area shows the development of modern astronomy in China with rich cultural relics and historical materials. Its "Focusing Telescope" exhibition area describes the process of the development of astronomy since the birth of the astronomical telescope 400 years ago. Its "Astron Classroom" exhibition hall is equipped with multimedia equipment to carry out various popular science reports, salons and academic exchange activities.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum also has a century-old astronomical library, thousands of astronomical negatives, and precious historical artifacts such as the Palan meridian instrument.

In addition to the historical exhibition, the Shanghai Astronomical Museum also has a unique "Starry Sky Tour" interactive dome-screen cinema, where visitors can explore the mysteries of the universe.

The museum also has a solar observation center and a public observatory, equipped with a 35-centimeter astronomical telescope, which can present real-time images of the sun during the day, and allow visitors to zoom in on the moon and other planets at night.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum attaches great importance to online astronomy popularization, and is responsible for the maintenance of the Astron China Astronomy Popularization Website, which is the popular science portal of the Astronomy Popularization Alliance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The website has an online forum section that is the most active astronomy popular science forum in China and is popular among astronomy lovers. The website also has a live video room, which can broadcast important astronomical phenomena in real time and popular science lectures.

As the main base for Shanghai Astronomical Observatory to carry out science popularization, Shanghai Astronomical Museum often organizes various astronomical science popularization activities, including astronomical observation activities when important astronomical phenomena occur.

The museum also conducts astronomical science lectures, exhibitions and other activities at primary and secondary schools, and in communities to satisfy the desires of the general public to explore the scientific world.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum undertook the large-scale publicity and organization of the solar eclipse observation activities in Shanghai and surrounding areas and created a new climax of astronomical science popularization by making full use of various media.

Since March 2010, with the support of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and the Shanghai Astronomical Society, the Shanghai Astronomical Museum has specially planned an astronomical science popularization lecture series, inviting astronomy experts every month to interpret hot astronomical issues and make predictions for future month's astronomical observations. The lecture series has now become a brand project of the museum's popular science publicity activities.

Address: West Sheshan Park, Songjiang district, Shanghai

Opening Hours:

8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Closed on Mondays during the off-season.

Tel: 021-57651723

Shanghai Astronomical Museum sits on the summit of West Sheshan Mountain. [Photo/Official website of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory]

The century-old binocular telescope with 40-centimeter refracting lenses is the centerpiece of the Shanghai Astronomical Museum. [Photo/Official website of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory]