“When I first found it, I brought it home and said to my wife, ‘I found a meteorite,’ just as a joke,” says 65-year-old Elm Creek resident Tom Wood. Now retired, he found the heavier-than-usual rock in autumn 1997, while working as a grader operator for the Rural Municipality of Grey. He used it to prop up his garage door for the next four years.

Little did he know that the 8.3 kilogram space rock would lead to one of his biggest adventures. Wood’s rock was an L4 chondrite meteorite, approximately 4.5 billion years old, and the size of a football.

“It is older than any rock on the surface of the earth. It would have formed back before the planet Earth solidified,” explains Scott Young, Manager of Programs for the Science Gallery and Planetarium. He says the meteorite likely originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and fell to earth thousands of years ago.

The Elm Creek Meteorite is displayed with another, smaller meteorite that also has a Manitoba connection. Local meteorite researcher Ralph Croning traveled to Buzzard Coulee, Alberta—the site of a meteorite fall—in order to find itand bring it home to Manitoba.

“Meteorites are interesting because they are rocks from space—they are the oldest rocks you’ll ever touch. They are a planetary sample that you don’t have to go into space and get—it comes to you,” says Young. “It gives us insight into the early days of our solar system.”

As for others, they can dream of making a similar discovery, but they’re better off buying a lottery ticket.

“We get about one rock a week coming into the museum and we’ve never had a real meteorite come in the door since the place opened. That’s how rare they are,” says Young.

Our natural history curators worked together to create Colours in Nature, a new exhibit in our Discovery Room. Prepare to be amazed by the vivid colours of Mother Nature, on dazzling display via previously unseen items from our Natural History Collection.

This exhibit provides an opportunity to see some splendidly brilliant specimens and a glimpse into the diversity of our research collections. The final tally of specimens for the exhibit approaches 300, and all continents but Antarctica are represented. Most of these specimens have not been exhibited previously, despite their splendor.

Oscar Wilde thought that, “Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” Come by The Discovery Room this winter and have the jewels of the natural history collections speak to your soul. Although we’d like to think you can leave with a little meaning mixed in there, too.

La Vérendrye’s Quest for the Western Sea, a new display in our Grasslands Gallery, tells the story of the colonial soldiers who protected the borders of New France.

Both exhibits are free with Museum Gallery admission.

Tuesday to Friday                                           10:00am – 4:00pm

Saturday & Sunday                                          11:00am – 5:00pm

** Please note that we are CLOSED on Mondays. Summer hours will resume in May.

For a chance to win a Museum Family Membership and other great prizes, simply email a high-resolution photo of you and/or your family or friends in the Museum to contest@manitobamuseum.ca, along with a brief caption and contact information.

All applicable photographs will be shared on our Facebook fan page.

After submitting your photo, you will automatically be entered into the draw.  The contest will be open until October 28th, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

Course Instructor Mike Jensen.

Our fall astronomy course is now sold out. The next course will be held in January 2012. To be placed on an email list to be informed what dates that course will take place, please email mjensen@manitobamuseum.ca. Registration for the winter session will begin on December 1.

Under the Planetarium dome, the skies are always clear, which makes it a perfect environment for teaching astronomy. Eyes to the Skies: A Beginner’s Journey Into Astronomy teaches adults all the basics of navigating the world above us.

Eyes to the Skies is a six-evening program that covers the basics of astronomy and navigating the night sky. Eyes to the Skies takes participants on an in-depth tour of the night sky, including constellations, planets, the moon and more. 

The Planetarium dome’s Zeiss projector is a precision opto-mechanical machine containing 154 projectors that work together to create a realistic night sky containing more than 9,000 stars, the Milky Way, the sun, moon, and planets.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the astronomy course is that you need to have a telescope to participate, but that’s simply not true, Jensen says.

“Telescopes can be very intimidating for people, but once you’re past the hurdle of the terminology, you find it’s just like aiming a camera. We try as much as we can to tailor the class to people’s needs. The last class we held, none of the students had a telescope or were interested in buying one, so we didn’t talk about telescopes at all.”

Using images and video, hands-on demonstrations, handouts, and the technology of the Planetarium Star Theatre, even the most novice of stargazers will be able to navigate the night sky like a pro by the end of the course, says Jensen. 

“You can always impress your family and friends—you’ll end up being the ‘star guy’ in your group,” he adds. “This course gives you knowledge about the often overlooked world that’s around us each and every day. Cultures around the world used the night sky to navigate, to know when to plant crops and when to harvest, when to hold their ceremonies—that information needs to continue on.”

Jensen started working at the museum as a Planetarium Operator in 1996. He is now the Science Gallery and Planetarium Programs Supervisor.

 Eyes to the Skies is $125 per person ($99 for museum members) for the full course. For more information, contact Jensen at 988-0613 or mjensen@manitobamuseum.ca. Register for the next session, which is set to happen in January 2012, by contacting the museum’s Programs and Registration Coordinator at 988-0626 or programs@manitobamuseum.ca. You can also put your name on a list for the next course, as courses are often held once there are enough students signed up.

 The Louis Riel Institute will present a display of bison hunting tools and activities in the Orientation Gallery from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

We also welcome you to an event we’re hosting with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.  Taking place at the Forks from 11 am until 5 pm on June 18, the celebration’s activities will appeal to a wide audience.  This community event will feature a historical interpretive area, where we will be doing tipi demonstrations and Aboriginal artefact interpretations.  Enjoy live music and an Aboriginal Marketplace with food and artisans.

We’ll be offering special highlight tours with an Aboriginal focus at 12:00 pm and 2:30 pm on Saturday, and tipi tours in the Grasslands Gallery from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Tours are free with regular Museum gallery admission. The Louis Riel Institute will present a display of bison hunting tools and activities in our Orientation Gallery from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

We also welcome you to an event we’re hosting with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Taking place at the Forks from 11 am until 5 pm on June 18, the celebration’s activities will appeal to a wide audience. This community event will feature a historical interpretive area, where we will be doing tipi demonstrations and Aboriginal artefact interpretations. Enjoy live music and an Aboriginal Marketplace with food and artisans.

We launched our newest publication, Manitoba Treasures, at our Community Celebration on November 17th. (Manitoba Treasures is available through the Museum Shop.) Over 100 people enjoyed gallery tours, met our curators, and “ate” the Nonsuch. Minister Jim Rondeau and Acting Deputy Mayor Paula Havixbeck spoke on behalf of the province and city, respectively.

Ever since Ancient Seas was launched this spring in the Museum’s Earth History Gallery, it’s been a huge hit with visitors and critics alike.

The animated undersea observatory won top honours for Best Scientific Visualization at the Red Stick International Animation Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last week. It also won the Red Stick International Animation Festival 2010 Sci-An Awards for excellence in scientific animation in the Natural Science category.

 The exhibit was selected as WHERE Magazine’s choice for the province’s top attraction in 2010.

Ancient Seas magically transports the visitor to an underwater environment that existed over 450 million years ago—when the Churchill area was blanketed by a tropical sea.

The Manitoba Museum worked closely with Phlesch Bubble, an Australian digital production studio, to be the very first Canadian museum to offer this cutting-edge technology. Projected on three enormous screens spanning 7.5 meters, the installation of the Ancients Seas exhibit completed the renewal of the Museum’s Earth History Gallery.

Dr. Graham Young, Museum Curator of Geology and Paleontology, used his personal expertise to make the rendering of Ancient Seas as realistic as possible. The curator spent more than a year consulting with the animators from Australia, experts from the Royal Ontario Museum, and universities and museums in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Ohio, Leicester (UK), Uppsala (Sweden), Berlin, and Russia.

“Ancient Seas is a very clear representation of global change—the world has certainly changed beyond recognition,” he explains. “This exhibit enhances people’s knowledge of the world that immediately surrounds us, so we can understand how we got to be where we are today.”

The Ancient Seas animation has well over a hundred separate layers sourced from an equal number of 3D animation files, all requiring compositing without a single error. This posed quite a challenge for its Australian creators.

“On some of the creatures, we went through model after model after model—what Phlesch Bubble sent us initially is nothing like what we ended up with,” Dr. Young recalls. “Because we know the area so well, we were able to correct things as minute as the angle of the ripples on the seafloor sediment. The result is one of the best depictions of ancient life in the world.”

Ancient Seas coincides with a number of steps the Museum is taking to make its exhibits more interactive and dynamic.

Ancient Seas was made possible primarily through a capital grant from the Province of Manitoba. The Manitoba Museum is a non-profit organization with approximately 40% of its operating funding coming from admissions, membership sales and private donations.

You won’t want to miss our fabulous Nuit Blanche program. On Saturday, October 1 from 9 pm until 1 am, our foyer will become a Mad Men-inspired mocktail party lounge. Travel back to the glamorous early 1960s with live jazz bands, vintage décor and a mocktail bar. All staff will be dressed in their best vintage Mad Men cocktail party clothes, and you’re encouraged to dress up and join in the fun.

Walk through the Museum Galleries on your own, or sign up for special themed highlight tours given in French or English every 45 minutes. (Space is limited.) This program is completely free, with the exception of the cash bar. Attractions include live music by the jazz band Blue Noise and The Royal Canadian Air Force Jazz Sextet from 17 Wing Winnipeg, vintage costumes from the Costume Museum of Canada, vintage furniture from Hooper’s Bazaar, costumes from the Winnipeg Police Museum, the work of artist Susana Meza, the theatrical production Zone41 “Three Sisters” presented by Theatre Projects Manitoba, and cars from the Manitoba Classic & Antique Auto Club.

Nuit Blanche is part of Culture Days, a three-day festival held on September 30th-October 2nd this year. Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. On Saturday night, many arts and cultural organizations keep their doors open late and present special programming to the public free of charge for the Nuit Blanche celebration. This is a fantastic opportunity to experience something new and exciting in your community, or see your favourite arts organization as you’ve never seen it before!

Culture Days was inspired by a nearly 20-year-old event that started in Quebec—Journées de la culture, which was established to celebrate the thriving arts and culture communities in La Belle Province.