The astronomy collection has been taking shape steadily since 1910 when it began with a gift from František Fiala, founder of the museum’s geodetic group. In the 1950s and 60s the collection gradually expanded, the most significant addition was the collection of the Klementine observatory. The astronomical instruments come from the 16th – 21st century; one even from the 15th century. These are instruments that were used in the past for astronomical measurements and demonstration objects used for depicting the universe.
The astronomy collection contains 450 instruments of astronomy and demonstration aids. This is a world-class collection of a very high quality and is the most significant collection of historical scientific instruments stored in the Czech Republic. The collection is divided into different fields: gnomonic projections, measurements of angles, models of the universe, telescopes.
The collection’s oldest instrument is a Late Gothic astrolab from ca. 1450. The instruments of Erasmus Habermel are among the collection’s most unique objects. The NTM’s series of instruments of astronomy, featuring two sextants from the work of Tychon Brah and Johannes Kepler at the Rudolfinian court in Prague, is of world renown. The first sextant is from Jost Bürgi, the second was made by Erasmus Habermel in Prague in 1600. The series continues with quadrants and circular instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries and concludes with a Zeiss telescope from 1907. The collection of sundials from the 16th to 19th century from Central Europe and the cabinet astronomical clock of P. Engelbert Seige from 1791 also warrants attention.
The collection also features meteor cameras from 1955 used by Czech astronomers in Ondřejov to photograph falling meteors. The parameters of the course of the Příbram meteorite, discovered in 1959, were calculated by the cameras' photographs One large, 81-kilo green meteorite from Argentina is also part of the collection.