Late last year, the museum discovered it was home to what appears to be the oldest telescope in New Zealand.
The Gregorian telescope was made in Scotland in 1736 by an important 18th-century telescope maker, James Short (1710-68).
Similar instruments made by Short were used by Captain James Cook aboard HMS Endeavour to observe the transit of Venus in 1769.
The telescope was donated to the museum by John Wyndham Begg, son of astronomer John Campbell Begg, who was a founder and director of Dunedin’s Beverly-Begg Observatory.
The instrument was found, disassembled, in a box.
After discovering the importance of the telescope, the museum’s conservation team recently worked hard to return it to its original condition for museum visitors to enjoy.
People can see the telescope in the museum’s Beautiful Science Gallery on level 1. Museum conservation manager Nyssa Mildwaters said it was a "truly elegant mechanism".
"It remained in really good condition and only required minor conservation work, including removing paper that had been glued to the outside, giving it a good clean, and applying a protective coating," she said.
