Bill Bailey, the psychology of great wildlife gardeners and a stuffed penguin returned from Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition provide the scientific highlights this month.

BBC Stargazing Live, Yorkshire Museum and Gardens, York, January 10

Toy with a bank of telescopes set up by York Astronomical Society in the York Observatory – the oldest working observatory in the world, which also opens on January 8 and 9 as part of the Beeb’s hugely popular campaign – and hear about the history of the building alongside projections of space onto the Multangular Tower. Timed tickets required - visit yorkobservatory.eventbrite.co.uk to book.

Amazing Plants, Charnwood Museum, Loughborough, from January 12

Discover Leicestershire’s exotic collection of botanical materials and find out more about the often-symbiotic hold people and plants have on each other in the opening show of the year at the museum dedicated to some of the people who have looked after them across the centuries.

The Healthy Season, Science Oxford Live, Oxford, from January 5

Kicking off a three-month campaign at Science Oxford, this month sees a Café Scientifique debate on eggs, sperm and embryos. There are also talks on the psychology and sociology of great wildlife gardeners, evidence that our susceptibility to disease is all in our genes and insights into mental health practice.

Wallace100, Natural History Museum, London, from January 24

A year of trails, talks and lectures and discoveries on Alfred Russel Wallace, the pioneering naturalist of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Comedian Bill Bailey launches the season by unveiling a portrait of Wallace – see our Preview.

Little Scientist Days, Satrosphere Centre, Aberdeen, January 23-24

Family-friendly workshops exploring the intricacies of recycling through interactive fun, hands-on activities and experiment demonstrations. Includes reduced entry rates.

South with Scott – A Captain Scott Centenary Exhibition, Torquay Museum, Torquay

This examination of Scott’s legendary journey stars an early publication of his personal diary detailing the mission, not to mention skis and a rare stuffed Adelie penguin returned to Britain by Frank Browning, a Torquay-based member of the Terra Nova team.

Moon, The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Just over 40 years after Eugene Cernan stepped off Apollo 17 and became the last person to walk on the moon, this is a chance to see space equipment and mementoes including a flown-in space glove, a flag once planted on the craters and lunar meteorites revealing the geology of our favourite celestial body.