Museum of Natural History and Planetarium

08/31/2026

Happy back to school! It is not too early to be thinking fall field trips, we are now taking bookings for this fall and would love to see your group. Call today for best date selection. We have planetarium shows and workshops for all grade levels! Visit our website for more information: https://www.providenceri.gov/museum/education-programs/

08/28/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Moon Hike with our friends at North Burial Ground !

The Moon peeked through the clouds as we explored the grounds and learned more about the fascinating history of North Burial Ground. A little moonlight, a little history, and a great night of discovery! Thanks for spending the evening with us!

08/27/2026

A big thank you to everyone who joined us in Roger Williams Park to enjoy the Moon and a beautiful evening under the stars! It was so much fun sharing the night sky with you and enjoying a beautiful evening in the park. Hope to see you again during our Moon Celebration Weekend with LunaSCOPE in September and Concerts Under the Stars returning this fall! Visit the Museum website for more information: https://www.providenceri.gov/museum/

08/26/2026

Our atmosphere didn’t always have oxygen, and neither did our oceans.

That changed around 2.4 billion years ago, when the Great Oxidation Event began. By then, microorganisms in the ocean had developed oxygenic photosynthesis, releasing oxygen into the water.

Oxygenated water caused dissolved iron in the water to oxidize, forming rusty red minerals that fell to the seafloor. Changes in this oxygenation over time caused different colors of sediment to fall to the seafloor: Iron-rich layers were red and iron-poor layers were black.

Those layers of sediment eventually formed sedimentary rock, like this one at the Museum. These banded iron formations show the fluctuations in the ocean’s oxygen levels caused by ancient photosynthetic microorganisms.

Banded iron formations continued to form for about a billion years, as the microorganisms kept pumping out oxygen. When the ocean ran out of dissolved iron to react with the oxygen, oxygen began to accumulate in the ocean, and then, the atmosphere. The oxygenated atmosphere may have enabled the evolution of eukaryotes, like us.

Come to the Museum to learn more about the fascinating story of our planet!

08/26/2026

Weather looks great for the Moon Hike at North Burial Ground tomorrow night!

TIME UPDATE!

Hi all our Moon Hike is actually kicking off at 7:30 on August 27th!

We're back again with our friends from for the return of our popular moon hike! Wander through NBG and hear cemetery and astronomy stories, and enjoy seeing NBG lit by moonlight!

Meet at the Rochambeau Gate, (check the link in our bio for a google maps location) which is on North Main Street where Rochambeau street would extend across North Main right by the R1 bus stop. There is no parking inside the cemetery, but there is ample free parking all along North Main, so park outside the gates and walk right in!

Wear sturdy shoes and dress for the weather. The terrain is a little uneven, but we'll be taking it at a meander pace!

08/25/2026

Is this shorebird a sandpiper or plover? Test your seaside birding skills with this sorting game in our Urban Wildlife exhibit! Visit us as our Summer Shellabration continues for a variety of family-friendly, hands-on activities. Museum is open daily from 9:30am-3:30pm with last admission at 3pm. Stop by and “shellabrate” the end of summer with us!

08/24/2026

Museum: From Top to Bottom! Ever wonder what’s behind the scenes at the Museum? Join docent Mike McGinity for a special look at our archives and collection storage vaults—and learn more about the Museum’s history and collections along the way in this adult program!

When: Tuesday, August 25
Time: 10:00–11:30am
Who: Adult program
$3 per adult | Free for Museum members
Pre-registration required. Capacity is limited.
Register: https://www.providenceri.gov/museum/lifelong-learners/

Please note: Access to the archives and collection storage vaults is by stairs only. Children are not permitted in Lifelong Learners programs.

08/24/2026

On this day twenty years ago, Pluto was reclassified! No longer considered our Solar System’s ninth planet, Pluto was designated a dwarf planet. Pluto is not the only dwarf planet in our Solar System, but it is certainly one of the the most famous! Its namesake comes from the Roman god of the Underworld. Fun fact: Pluto’s name was chosen in 1930 by an 11-year-old girl named Venetia Burney.

Want to learn more about our Solar System and explore the night sky? Visit the Planetarium. Daily planetarium shows at 1pm through September 6!

Photo Credits: NASA/JHU APL/SwRI
1st photo: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured a high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015.
2nd photo: A close-up image of a region near Pluto’s equator revealed a surprise - a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

08/24/2026

Did you know the Museum of Natural History features an active beehive? Honeybees have a fascinating social structure, and each member of the colony has an important role. At the center is the queen, whose primary job is to lay eggs and keep the colony growing. If the queen is lost, the worker bees may be able to raise a new queen from a young larva. Drones are male honeybees whose primary role is to mate with a queen. The rest of the hive’s many essential jobs fall to the worker bees. Female bees collect nectar and pollen, produce beeswax, care for the young, maintain the hive and defend the colony.

Visit the Museum and see our busy bees in action! Thanks to our beekeeper !

08/21/2026

From the Museum Vaults! Meet this Texas horned lizard! While these critters are often called “horned toads” because of their squat shape, they are actually a species of lizard. Texas horned lizards are masters of camouflage, using their coloring to blend into the sandy habitats they call home. If camouflage does not work, they have another defense. Did you know they can sq**rt droplets of blood from their eyes to help protect themselves from predators? This is just one of thousands of fascinating specimens cared for in the collections at the Museum of Natural History.