Telescopes

Exhibition Tour

Before Telescopes

As visitors approach the exhibition, they are greeted by a full-size replica of a familiar giant stone monolith from Stonehenge. This imagery sets the scene for early human observing. In this section, visitors can learn how observations led to models of the Universe, which led to the development of observing tools.

Early Telescopes

As visitors round the corner, they find themselves standing on an Italian balcony in the early 1600s, when the telescope began to replace naked-eye observing.

An ivory telescope. Now viewable in the Telescopes: Through the Looking glass exhibition.

The surrounding room contains unique telescopes, including some of the oldest in the world. Visitors will encounter an Italian trumpet-shaped telescope from the 1630s, an artifact from the Adler's own world-famous Mensing Collection and the oldest telescope outside of Europe. Another masterpiece in this section is a rare ivory telescope from Germany circa 1660.

This section also features a Grand Orrery, a table-sized 18th century planetarium hand-crafted from wood and brass. The orrery demonstrates a move away from the geocentric model of the Universe to a heliocentric model with the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center.

The interactive highlight of this section is a look through an antique telescope from 1675, a colossal 22-foot-long device. Nowhere else in the world can the public look at and look through such a large early telescope.

Evolving Telescopes

Viewing through a telescope became a popular pastime, and the subject of cartoons and advertisements. This section features an interesting collection of these cartoons and advertisements. One case contains an original early-19th century patent — complete with the king's wax seal — awarded for an improved telescope, an example of which is also on display.

Two interactives in this section introduce the interaction between light and lenses and their connection to the development of the telescope. Visitors can mix and match lenses at one table to assemble a functioning telescope. At a second table, visitors can experiment with lenses to learn how the curvatures of lenses bend light in different ways.

Current Telescopes

The Dearborn Telescope in the Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass exhibit during construction.

As the exhibition moves into the modern era of telescopes (19th through 21st centuries), the artifacts become more complex and the observations reach deeper into the Universe. Visitors find themselves gazing at the Adler's magnificent Dearborn Telescope , created by famous telescope craftsman Alvan Clark.

The technique of spectroscopy — breaking light apart into different wavelengths to determine an object's composition — became an important observing method in the 19th century. Using a touch screen kiosk, visitors will see how astronomers use spectroscopy to identify the chemical composition of distant objects such as stars.

Opposite the Dearborn and from the spectroscopy interactive, visitors find the first ever observationally-based map of the Milky Way. In 1951, astronomer William Morgan and his colleagues at the Yerkes Observatory (Williams Bay, Wisconsin) assembled the model to illustrate the shape of the Milky Way.

Digital screens featuring images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope illustrate the detailed observations now available to astronomers. Imagery from different telescopes show how the same galaxy appears in different wavelengths, and what those wavelengths can teach us about the composition of that galaxy.

One interactive in this section includes an infrared camera that visitors can use to see themselves in infrared light, similar to how the Spitzer Space Telescope views faraway celestial objects.

Visitors exit through a tunnel the same diameter as the main mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope, in order to get a sense of how large it is. Exiting the tunnel, they see an image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, an image captured by Hubble of a small region of space taken over a period of 11 days.

Resources

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 2009
Author: Marvin Bolt

Learn more about Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass by purchasing the guide in our museum shop.

This exhibition catalogue focuses on ninety-nine artifacts from the Adler Planetarium's world-class collection of historic telescopes. From the simple lenses of the world's earliest telescopes 400 years ago to the complex computer-driven mirrors of current telescopes, these tools have gathered information about our nearest astronomical neighbors and the most distant objects in the universe. Introductory paragraphs provide background information for each of four time periods, with each section featuring artifact entries that describe each object's place in the fascinating history of the telescope. Telescope-makers intended for their work to be looked at as well as looked through. With this catalogue, readers can enjoy the craftsmanship of telescope-making over the centuries, and catch a glimpse of their importance and of the significant discoveries they enabled.

To purchase online, visit the Infinity Shop.

ISBN: 1-891220-06-3

Teacher Resource guides are available for exhibits at the Adler. Visit our teacher guides page to learn more.

Sponsors and Partners

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass is made possible by the following generous donors: NASA, the Pritzker Foundation and Roderick and Marjorie Webster. The Adler Planetarium recognizes the generosity of The Webster Club, whose members provide essential annual support for the Adler Collections and the telescopes featured in this exhibition.

Putting Together a Galileo Scope