Points of Interest

Museum Campus

Make a day of it! The museum campus is home to three of Chicago’s largest museums. Whether you are in the mood for water, land, or space, the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum of Natural History, and Adler Planetarium have you covered.

The campus is not just museums. Solider Field and Charter One Pavilion host many musical and sporting events. Solider Field is the home of the Chicago Bears football team. The campus also has its own beach right next to the Adler Planetarium. The 12^th Street beach is a great place to enjoy a snack and take a dip if the weather is right.

Next to the Adler Planetarium, Northerly Island Park boasts beautiful wildlife trails where the Meigs Field airport once stood. You can still see the airport terminal as you come up Museum Campus Drive.

Doane Observatory

If you walk around the Adler building you will eventually find our Doane Observatory. The Doane Observatory is home to the largest aperture telescope available to the public in the Chicagoland area. As such, it is the centerpiece of all telescope observing experiences at the Adler.

The Doane is open to the Adler's visitors for viewing every Adler After Dark and for special observing events such as eclipses, planetary alignments, and comet watches. To learn more about viewing opportunities view our special events page.

Learn more about the Doane Observatory.

America's Courtyard

This stone installation sculpture located just to the south of the planetarium has many layers of meaning. Its 60 stone blocks are laid out like a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way and the stones used have many different origins and colors, symbolizing the many different races, ethnicities, and belief systems of people in the United States. Also, each ring of stones is slightly higher than the one inside it, creating an amphitheater-like arrangement where visitors can sit and enjoy their surroundings: Lake Michigan, 12th Street Beach, and the exterior architecture of the Adler. The statue is malleable and mobile; it can be arranged into many shapes and still have its intended effect.

Designed by Brazilian artists Denise Milan and Ary Perez, the work was originally on display near the Art Institute. It was permanently moved to the Adler in 1998 with the help of Adler archeoastronomer Phyllis Pitluga, who worked with the artists to align the stones. At the summer and winter solstices, the Sun's rising and setting points align perfectly at designated markers, much like Stonehenge and other ancient timekeeping monuments. This connection illustrates the overall theme of harmony between man and nature.

Rainbow Lobby

If the Sun is in the west, light coming through the beveled glass in the entrance doors creates dozens of small rainbows on the walls. Directly opposite the entrance doors is a large marble panel bearing the words of Max Adler and a bronze emblem for each of the planets.

Interestingly there are only eight emblems, even though we categorized Pluto as a planet up until 2006. Pluto was missing all along because its discovery was announced on March 13, 1930, about five weeks before the Adler opened and well after the panel had been installed!

Sundial Plaza

At the Adler's entry plaza, a 13-foot working bronze sundial entitled "Man Enters the Cosmos" stands gracefully against the backdrop of the city's skyline and Lake Michigan. It is a modern take on an ancient timekeeping device, designed by Henry Moore in 1980. The sundial consists of two perpendicular semi-circles and a thin, vertical rod, known as a gnomon, which casts a shadow on the marked semicircle to keep time.

This specific design is known as an equatorial sundial, the most accurate geometric shape of a sundial that has been used since the Renaissance. It rests on a golden patina, which, along with the sculpture's name, symbolizes the "golden years of astronomy" from 1930 to 1980 - the time the Adler opened to the time the sculpture was installed. This 50 year period saw remarkable advancements in astronomy, technology, and space exploration, especially with the Apollo XI Moon landing in 1969.

Moore had an interest in astronomy and built a 22-inch sundial for his home garden in Hertfordshire, England in 1965. He also constructed a large sundial that now resides in Brussels, Belgium. The work at the Adler is a modification of both these designs, commissioned by the B.F. Ferguson Monument Fund.

Terraces

A view of downtown Chicago from Adler's north terrace.

Step out on the Adler's North and South terraces for an unparalleled view of Chicago's skyline and night sky. The North terrace is accessible year-round for photography and up-close observing of the city's world-famous architecture through three permanent telescopes. Staff and volunteers frequently help visitors view the Sun safely through solar telescopes on the South terrace.

Evenings offer picturesque views of the serenely-lit city from both terraces at private and public events. Even if the skies are cloudy, you will still see one of the most breathtaking views of the city!

Nicolaus Copernicus Monument

Towering over Solidarity Drive in front of the museum's main entrance is an 8 1/2 foot tall bronze statue of astronomical revolutionary Nicolaus Copernicus. It was given to the city of Chicago by The Copernicus Foundation and the Polish-American Congress to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Copernicus' birth in 1973. The monument outside the Adler is a replica, recast from sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's plaster model. The original bronze sculpture was in Warsaw, Poland in front of the Polish Academy of Science until it was destroyed in 1944 during World War II.

Copernicus, both a member of the clergy and a scientist in the early 16th century, was the first person to conceptualize a heliocentric model of the solar system and claim the Sun, not the Earth, was at the center of the solar system. Many see him as a founder of modern astronomy and view his work as the start of the scientific revolution. Although he was not the first person to ever assert the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, he was the first to give a full theory and provide evidence through mathematics and observation.

The sculpture depicts the scientist gazing to the heavens, holding in his hands two essential tools of early astronomers: a compass and an armillary sphere. According to Bill Wilhelm, Operations Manager at the Adler, the armillary sphere has twice been stolen and is now designed to prevent theft.