Science Museum
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Small Zeiss planetarium projector, model number 30, (user) — 1930–45
This object tells the story of two very different uses of astronomy. It was originally used to train Luftwaffe navigators and pilots in celestial navigation. Such knowledge enabled them to fly bomber aircraft towards Britain, with devastating consequences. After the ... read more
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Glass positive of Pluto discovery, (maker) — 1930
From 1930 until 2006, our Solar System had nine planets. Tiny Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, who was searching for a predicted ‘Planet X’ that might explain oddities in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. Tombaugh’s photographs show the ... read more
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Glass positive of Hubble’s classification of ‘nebulae’, (preparer) — 1930
The famous astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that ‘spiral nebulae’ were actually galaxies of stars beyond our own galaxy, the Milky Way. He devised a system of galaxy classification that is still widely used today. These galaxy images were taken at ... read more
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Model (scale 1:200) of the Jodrell Bank Lovell Telescope, (user) — 1961
The 76-metre Lovell Telescope is the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world. It was originally built to track cosmic rays, high-energy particles from space, with radio waves. Designer Bernard Lovell drew on expertise he had developed for radar ... read more
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Arecibo message illustration, (printer) — 1974
This is a graphical representation of the message sent in 1974 from the huge Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. The message, composed of binary digits, was the first deliberate attempt to transmit information to extraterrestrials. It carries information on ... read more
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’etu iti (Little Stars) by Ani O’Neill, (user) — 2006
Artist Ani O’Neill chose the theme of feathered stars and traditional craft techniques to represent the ancient skill of Polynesian sailors: ‘Our Pacific ancestors used the stars to navigate between the islands of the Pacific. Today our people have adapted ... read more
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Representation of E-ELT mirror segment, (maker, user) — 2009
The world’s largest optical telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope, is due to begin operations in 2018. It will consist of 984 hexagonal segments of this size, fitted together to make a mirror 42 metres across – around the length ... read more