me and the moon

me and the moon

Moon Stories in a Minute

In March 2020, we were closing our doors, feeling wistful about missing Easter weekend in the Museum.

Twelve months on, it cheered us up to think that — thanks to the Moon — we could enjoy Easter a couple of weeks earlier this year (check out The Moon: belief and time to find out why).

And that got us chatting about the Moon, what it means to us, and all the stories our collections can tell.

So we asked some friends and colleagues to share 60 seconds with us on what the Moon means to them.

Take a Moon Walk through their personal stories — and why not share what the Moon means to you.

"I'm fascinated by calendars ..."
Dr Silke Ackermann, Director, History of Science Museum, Oxford

"beautiful music ... and my toddler's favourite books"
Caroline Moreau, Volunteer Team Leader, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

Ramadan's Moon Mubarak Greeting
Rana Ibrahim, Founder, Iraqi Women Art and War (IWAW)

"just for a moment, there was some magic the air"
Lizzy Rowe, Volunteer Tour Guide, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

Singing "Sweet and Low": a Moon lullaby for a new baby brother
Dalya Moss, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

Staring at the same moon anchors us together
Melody Li, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

Full moon and the Jewish festival of Passover
Ariel (aka Lionel) Moss, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

Crescents of the sun in the shadow of the moon
Ariel (aka Lionel) Moss, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

"To me, the moon means beauty"
Dhamyaa Abass, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

"The Moon, oh The Moon"
Janet Bull, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

'Moon Landings'
Rosie Martin, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

'Resistance to standardisation'
Name, Volunteer, University of Oxford Gardens, Libraries, and Museums

It's a marvellous night for a Moon Dial ...

Ever wondered why the Moon's in a different place — and a different shape — each night?

Chris Parkin explains how to make a Dial to keep track of the Moon's eight phases and where to find it in the night sky.

Before you start

You'll need to print out these three sheets (Quick Tip: print Sheets A and B onto card if you can — or stick onto card before cutting out).

Make a Moon Dial
Instruction Sheet

Make a Moon Dial
Template Sheet A

Make a Moon Dial
Template Sheet B

37148 astrolabe with lunar mansions (back 01) 1800 x 840 px

The Moon: belief and time

Why are some festivals — like Christmas — always on the same day, but others — like Ramadan, Diwali, and Easter — on different days each year?

Helen Pooley talks us through how the lunar (Moon) calendar affects when we celebrate religious festivals and what ingeniously beautiful instruments we use to work out when they will fall each year.

Take a Moon Walk

Moon Pastel by John Russell

At over 5ft across, this huge Moon picture was completed in 1795 by the famous artist John Russell.

For him, stargazing combined scientific accuracy with spiritual devotion:

‘tonight being in the Street I had a sight of the Stars ... and I had my Soul filled with the Hopes of … Immortality’.

Take a look

Selenographia Moon Globe by John Russell

John Russell, eighteenth-century artist and amateur astrononer, designed a globe which shows the motions, of the Moon called a Selenographia.

This is one of the few surviving examples.

Take a look

Orrery, Lunarium by W. Jones

Orreries — mechanical models showing how the planets move relative to each other and the Sun — were invented in the early 1700s and often used for teaching.

This one was made in London around 1800.

Check the database

Astrolabe with Lunar Mansions by Abd al-Karim

This magnificent astrolabe was made for the Sultan Abū-l-Fātih Mūsā — Saladin's nephew — who ruled areas of Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Syria, and Armenia in the 1210s and 1220s. Take a look at the lunar mansions (28 positions of the Moon as it circles the Earth) on the back.

Check the database

Astronomical and Calendrical Volvelle

This Astronomical and Calendrical Volvelle or New Astronomical Instrument was edited by Lewis Evans — great-grandfather and namesake of our Founder.

Cousins of the astrolabe, volvelles are rotating paper 'wheel charts', often found in early astronomy or mathematical books.

Check the database

Horizontal String-Gnomon Sun and Moondial by Johann Martin

This is a Sun and Moon dial which includes a scale to show the age of the Moon.

With this ingenious instrument, you could tell the time by day — or by moonlight.

Check the database

Equinoctial Dial, Horizontal Dial, and Volvelle

This multi-purpose device can be used as an equinoctial dial (where the pin which casts the shadow is at 90 degrees to the surface plate of the dial), and a horizontal dial (where the pin is at an angle, depending on your latitude — the how far north or south you are from the equator).

Check the database

Crescent Moon Amulet by Unknown

Neopolitan silver amulets like this crescent Moon used to be worn by women to protect mother and child from the evil eye.

Check the database

Stereoscopic Photograph (Albumen Prints) of the Moon

Stereoscopes were the 3D glasses of their day. If you look at these two images — taken one month apart — through a stereoscope, the Moon would appear in 3D.

By the middle of the 1800s, it was said in the UK that there was 'no home without a stereoscope'.

Check the database

Short history of the Moon

Browse the Shop

Browse in the Shop

Own your own Astrolabe

Browse the shop

Dive into Director's Choice

Browse the shop

Gaze into the Magnetic Hourglass

Browse the shop

Keep time in your pocket

Browse the shop

Hold 40 years in your hand

Support your Museum

Thanks to your generosity — in 2019 our visitors contributed £41,000 in donations — we have been able to support the Museum’s Collections and continue public events and education programmes.

That is why we continue to rely on visitors just like you to support us.

Thank you.

I want to support my Museum