A comet called C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has been visible in the sunset western sky since this weekend.  Start looking in the evening just after the sun’s disk is completely set.  You might first spot the brightest planet in the sky, Venus, and the comet should be to the right, or north.  The comet will get higher in the sky each evening, but will also rapidly dim as it gets farther away from the sun and Earth.  Read more details here.

Blending stunning wildland photography with never-before-seen fossils and other specimens from the museum’s Research Collections, Conserving America’s Wildlands: The Vision of Ted Turner paints a vivid picture of the deep history found in our wild places and the value of conservation. On view through the end of 2024.

More information about the new exhibit is available HERE. This exhibition is presented by Thornburg Investments.

Starting on Dec. 8, head to the Planetarium for Mesmerica 360, a fully immersive music and art cinematic projection show. Mesmerica 360 blends the atmospheric music of James Hood with visually stunning graphics and imagery. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to: tickets.mesmerica.com/albuquerque.

The museum’s Origins Hall has closed as part of a comprehensive re-imagining of the exhibit space. The new hall, titled Ancient Life, will feature hundreds of never-before-seen fossils from NMMNHS’s Research Collections and be the largest exhibition of its kind in the Southwest. Ancient Life is expected to open in late 2024, please check the website for additional details as the project progresses.

Prehistoric mammals bulked up, rather than develop bigger brains, to boost their survival chances once dinosaurs had become extinct, research suggests.

For the first 10 million years after dinosaurs died out, mammals prioritised boosting their body size to adapt to radical shifts in the make-up of Earth's animal kingdom, researchers say. Read more