The museum is inside Sheshan Observatory Workstation of West Sheshan. Its predecessor is Sheshan Observatory in a European architectural style built by the French Society of Jesus in 1900. The "Far East's First" 40 centimeters binocular refracting optical telescope was installed on the mountain top.

In the past 100-plus years, it has taken more than 7000 precious astronomical photos. In 2000, the "Time Museum" of the workstation was opened to the public. In 2001, "Sheshan Popular Science Education Base of Shanghai Observatory" was opened and a series of popular science activities for "exploring the mystery of the universe" were organized. On Nov 16, 2004, Shanghai Astronomical Museum was officially established and opened to the public.

The astronomical museum consists of two sections: "Time and Man" and "Sino-Foreign Astronomical Exchange". The area of the display areas is about 2000 square meters. "Time and Man" mainly displays the basic concept of time and its relation with man's social activities, as well as the achievements of China in the research of time.

The "Sino-Foreign Astronomical Exchange" includes an astronomical exchange, time determination by meridian circle, evolution of telescopes, century-old telescope, astronomical books and other display areas. Numerous cultural relics and historical materials narrate the modern history of astronomy in Shanghai, China.

The exhibits include the "Far East's First" 40cm binocular refracting telescope, which was put into service in 1900 as well as its auxiliary observing devices, a prime meridian instrument participating in international longitude determination, and a century-old astronomical library, which contains tens of thousands of Chinese and foreign astronomical books, periodicals and manuscripts with a time span of more than 200 years.

Since Shanghai Astronomical Museum was opened to visitors, it has become one of the important tourist attractions in the core area of Sheshan National Tourist Resort and an important popular science education base in Shanghai.

The museum is open to the public all the year round, organizes the observation of total/partial solar/lunar eclipses, return of comets, meteor showers and other astronomical phenomena, and spreads the knowledge of astronomical science to society at large - teenagers in particular.

Shanghai Astronomical Museum was named a "Shanghai Juvenile Education Base" by the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology in 1996, "Shanghai Popular Science Education Base" in 1997, "Technology Innovation Action Education Base of China Youth" by the Central Committee of the Communist Young League in 1999, and "National Popular Science Education Base" by China Association for Science and Technology in 2002.