Shows

What goes up doesn’t always come down. Fifty years after launching our dreams into space, we’re left with a troubling legacy—a growing field of debris that threatens the safety of the orbital space that surrounds the Earth.

Location: Universe Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: General Audience
Length:  23 minutes

Weekday Times
11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m.

Weekend Times
10:45 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 3:15 p.m.

Join The Searcher on a journey through deep space and encounter beautiful and immersive scientific visualizations of colliding galaxies, a supernova explosion, a black hole, and more.

Location: Grainger Sky Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: General Audience

Weekday Times
10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 12:45 p.m.,
1:30 p.m., 2:15 p.m., 3:15 p.m.

Weekend Times
10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 12:45 p.m.,
1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 4:00 p.m.

A spectacular new space show, Journey to the Stars, narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg.

Location: Definiti Space Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: General Audience

Weekday Times
11:30 a.m., 1:45 p.m, 3:30 p.m.

Weekend Times
11:45 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:45 p.m.

Please note on Monday, February 6, Thursday, February 9, Friday, February 10, Monday, February 13, through Wednesday, February 15, and Friday, February 17, there will be no 11:30 a.m. showing of Journey to the Stars.

Please note on Wednesday, February 8, and Thursday, February 16, there will be no 11:30 a.m. and a special 12:15 p.m. showing of Journey to the Stars.

Big Bird, Elmo and their friend from China, Hu Hu Zhu, take viewers on a journey of discovery to learn about the Big Dipper, the North Star, the Sun, and the Moon.

Location: Definiti Space Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: Younger Visitors
Length: 25 minutes

Weekday Times
1:00 p.m.

Weekend Times
10:15 a.m., 1:15 p.m.

Please note on Tuesday, February 7, Wednesday, February 8, and Monday, February 13, there will be a special 10:00 a.m. showing of One World One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure.

Please note on Thursday, February 9, there will be special 10:00 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. showings of One World One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure.

Take an in-depth journey through the cosmos with Night Sky Live!

Location: Definiti Space Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: General Audience
Length: 35 minutes

Weekday Times
12:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m.

Weekend Times
11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m.

Please note on Wednesday, February 8,  Thursday, February 9, and Thursday, February 16, there will be no 12:15 p.m. showing of Night Sky Live!

Explore the relationship between the Earth, Moon, and Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American oral traditions.

Location: Definiti Space Theater
Appropriate for: Younger Visitors
Length: 25 minutes

Weekday Times
10:45 a.m.

Weekend Times
There are no weekend showtimes.

Please note on Monday, February 6, there will be a special 11:30 a.m. showing of Earth, Moon, and Sun.

Please note on Monday, February 13, there will be no 10:45 a.m. and a special 11:30 a.m. showing of Earth, Moon, and Sun.

Please note on Wednesday, February 15,  and Thursday, February 16, there will be no 10:45 a.m. showing of Earth, Moon, and Sun.

From Earth, the Sun can never be directly looked at with human eyes.  3D Sun, a new space show now playing at the Adler Planetarium, gives audiences the chance to see the sun up close in dazzling, high-definition 3D.

Location: Universe Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: General Audiences
Length: Approximately 23 minutes

Weekday Times
11:45 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m.

Weekend Times
11:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:30 p.m.

Join scientists who are investigating the boundary between our Solar System and the rest of our galaxy in IBEX: Search for the Edge of the Solar System.

Location: Definiti Space Theater (see map)
Appropriate for: Advanced Interest
Length: 28 minutes

The museum is home to three full-size theaters, including the Grainger Sky Theater, the all-digital projection Definiti Space Theater and the 3D Universe Theater.

The Adler has shown many amazing productions in its three theaters. Here are some of our favorites.