Adler guests, tickets must be purchased online, and in advance of your visit.
Meet Apollo 11 Spacesuit Designer Bob Davidson
Image Caption: Bob Davidson, shown on the left of the image holding a microphone, is seen conducting a spacesuit fit check with Astronaut Rusty Schweikart on December 17, 1966.
Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in 2019, and has been updated.
Imagine you are called into a meeting about a job. The job is completely different from any job you’ve ever had. It’s not an anxiety dream—this is really happening!—so you do what any responsible person would do: You tell the other people in the meeting you have no idea how to do this job.
To your surprise, they don’t seem concerned.
That’s okay, they say. Neither do we.
That’s more or less exactly what happened to Bob Davidson in 1962, not long after President John F. Kennedy, Jr., had announced that the United States would send people to the Moon before the end of that decade. Well, “announced” is a strong word. President Kennedy had said, “We choose to go to the Moon” into a microphone, but he couldn’t have been certain it would happen—let alone by the end of the decade—because it might have been impossible.
Nobody had ever done it before.
Who is Bob Davidson?
Bob Davidson was a fresh-faced college graduate, a newly minted electrical engineer. He had been working on a satellite project for NASA, but the project got cancelled and Bob got a new offer: Join a team of contractors from Playtex (The bra company? Yes, the bra company) to design and build a wearable device that could keep a person alive, comfortable, and mobile in the vacuum of space. A spacesuit. Or, as Bob prefers to think of it, a personal spacecraft.
Designing the Apollo 11 Astronaut Spacesuit
“We started with nothing,” he said, “and we had eight years.”
When Bob said “nothing,” he really meant it. At the beginning of the project, the team had no technical specifications to work with. They had only the most basic information about the environment on the Moon (less gravity, more extreme temperatures), and no real sense of direction. All they knew was that their work had to be done—and done perfectly—in time for the Apollo 11 launch. They were under an incredible amount of pressure to succeed, but Bob said the team didn’t really feel it.
”It was not pressure,” he said. “It was motivation. We’re gonna do it. We’re a team.”
A few colleagues and I had the privilege of talking with Bob about his work on the Apollo 11 spacesuit design team. Even now, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of every inch of the suit.
The ventilation system that kept astronauts from breathing in their own hair and skin cells. The way the zipper had to be designed to seal under pressure—two zippers, actually. The first one took the stress off the second. The connector tubes to the backpack, the urine port on the right knee, the urine bag, the buffer tubes, the draining bag. (“We had to test this stuff, by the way,” he said.) There was even a cargo pocket in case the astronauts only had time to grab a handful of rocks and run.
Lessons From Designing a Spacesuit
As Bob shared his story with us, there were many striking things about him. But aside from his deep knowledge, sharp memory, and memorable mustache, the thing that stuck with me was his optimistic (but also pragmatic) outlook on the human capacity to solve big, difficult problems—when we work together.
“If we as a nation have an issue, we have a problem, just look how John Kennedy did it. Use him as an example,” he said. “Get everybody to buy in.”
As a nation and as a species, we have different problems now than we had in the 1960s, like all the looming disasters that climate change may bring. But Bob is convinced that if everyone buys in, we can succeed in ways that will surprise us.
“The benefits that come out of it will be tenfold than just improving the environment. The benefits that spill out of it and come back to the commercial sectors—things we never thought we could develop, industries that become major industries,” he said.
“Everybody is gonna benefit from this.”
Speaking as a person who has a LOT of anxiety dreams, this is the part of Bob’s story that inspired me most: the way the team didn’t fritter away its time worrying about the immensity of the project, what might go wrong, all the ways they might have failed. It gave me a new appreciation for what people could accomplish together if our starting assumption was less “It’s impossible. We’re doomed” and more “We’re gonna do it. We’re a team.”
Learn More About Apollo 11
Inspired by Bob Davidson? Explore Apollo 11’s mission to the Moon by taking a look at “A Giant Leap for Mankind,” a digital collection made in partnership with NASA, the U.S. National Archives, Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, and more.
A Total Lunar Eclipse
Image Caption: The March 15, 2022, lunar eclipse at totality. The full Moon appears to be brick red in color as the Earth’s shadow covers it. Image credit: Adler Planetarium
Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in 2018 and has been updated to include relevant information about the next upcoming total lunar eclipse in 2026.
Are you getting ready for the next total lunar eclipse? If the weather is clear, lunar eclipses can be a magnificent show in the sky from start to finish. And the best part: you don’t need any special equipment to see one – just your eyes and a clear sky!
Here’s everything you need to know about lunar eclipses, and tips to see the next one.
Lunar Eclipses Explained
When the Sun’s light falls on our planet, the Earth blocks this light and casts a shadow into space. This is just like when you’re standing in the Sun—a shadow is cast behind you because YOU are blocking some of the Sun’s light! When the Moon’s orbit intersects with the Earth’s shadow, the Moon passes through the shadow, and the Moon appears to darken for a short while. We call this phenomenon a lunar eclipse.
When Do Lunar Eclipses Happen?
A lunar eclipse can only happen when the Moon is at the full Moon lunar phase. Why don’t we get a lunar eclipse at every full Moon? The Moon’s orbit doesn’t always intersect Earth’s shadow. The Moon’s orbit is tilted a bit with respect to the Earth, so as the Moon orbits Earth, usually the Moon misses the shadow, passing a bit above or below it in space. When everything lines up just right, we get a lunar eclipse.
On average, lunar eclipses only happen once or twice a year, so they are somewhat rare. Additionally, depending on your location, you may not see a lunar eclipse occur. If your spot on the Earth is not facing the Moon while the eclipse is happening, you will not see the eclipse at all. This makes spotting a lunar eclipse even more special!
Fun fact: If you were standing on the surface of the Moon during a lunar eclipse, you would see the Earth eclipse the Sun as a solar eclipse. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 robotic lander photographed this amazing phenomenon during the March 13-14, 2025 lunar eclipse! The Moon’s surface appeared reddish around the lander, and the craft photographed a beautiful solar eclipse.
Image Caption: Captured at our landing site in the Moon’s Mare Crisium around 3:30 am CDT, the photo shows the sun about to emerge from totality behind Earth. Image credits/copyright: Firefly Aerospace
Different Types Of Lunar Eclipses
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the lighter, outer part of Earth’s shadow, called the penumbra. When the Moon is in this part of the shadow, it may appear a bit more tan in color, but the color change can sometimes be hard to notice at all.
Image caption: The Moon in the Earth’s penumbral shadow during the March 13-14, 2025 lunar eclipse. The Moon shows a slight darkening on its lower-left side. Image credit: Adler Planetarium
A partial lunar eclipse occurs when some of the Moon passes into the darker, inner area of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. At this point, the Moon looks like it has a bite taken out of it, and that bite grows progressively larger as the Moon passes further and further into the dark shadow.
Image Caption: The partially eclipsed Moon during the March 13-14, 2025 lunar eclipse. A dark shadow covers the lower-left section of the Moon. Image credit: Adler Planetarium
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon fully passes into the Earth’s umbra, the darkest central part of its shadow. Once totality begins, the Moon can appear reddish, gray, or even orange.
Not all lunar eclipses are total eclipses. The Moon’s orbit may only take it through part of the Earth’s shadow, never passing completely into the Earth’s umbra shadow. Some lunar eclipses are just penumbral eclipses, and some are just partial lunar eclipses.
Why Does The Moon Change Color During A Total Lunar Eclipse?
The color of the Moon during totality is due to sunlight passing through the atmosphere all around the edge of the Earth. Our atmosphere scatters away the bluer rays of the Sun’s light, and the redder wavelengths of light pass through and into the Earth’s shadow. You can also see this effect right before sunset: at that moment, sunlight is passing through a lot of air near the horizon, scattering the blue wavelengths and leaving the Sun’s redder wavelengths which makes the Sun appear orange or red.
Think of a lunar eclipse as showing you the color of the collective sunrises and sunsets happening around the entire edge of the Earth at that exact moment. Pretty cool, right?
Image Caption: The March 13-14, 2025 lunar eclipse at totality. The full Moon appears to be a dark brick red as the Earth’s shadow covers it. Image credit: Adler Planetarium
The color of the Moon during totality is often different from one lunar eclipse to the next. This depends on whether the air the sunlight is passing through at that moment is dusty, clear, or cloudy, if there has been a sandstorm, or if there has been a recent volcanic eruption. The quality and clarity of Earth’s atmosphere affects the color of a total lunar eclipse. Sometimes during a total lunar eclipse, the Moon might appear light or dark red, orange, or even light or dark gray. That’s part of the fun of total lunar eclipses—we don’t know what the color of the Moon will be until the eclipse happens! The lunar eclipses in November 2021 and November 2022 were both dark brick-red in color. One Adler Planetarium staff member described the color of the March 13-14, 2025 total lunar eclipse as “a cinnamon-dusted cranberry.”
What Is A Blood Moon?
Blood Moon is an informal term used to refer to a total lunar eclipse, but it is not technically an astronomical or scientific term.
The phrase’s usage has grown in popularity, and these days, blood Moon and lunar eclipse are often used interchangeably. People use the phrase blood Moon because the Moon might appear the color of blood during the totality phase of a lunar eclipse.
Blood Moons aren’t your thing? Learn about Supermoons.
Solar And Lunar Eclipses Come In Pairs
Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses are extremely intertwined. If the Moon’s orbit is lined up with Earth to cause a lunar eclipse, it is also lined up with Earth for a partial or total solar eclipse, either about two weeks before or two weeks after the lunar eclipse.
The type of lunar eclipse will depend on which part of the Earth’s shadow the Moon encounters, and the type of solar eclipse will depend on how much of the Sun is covered as seen from the Earth. However, both eclipses may not be visible to the same parts of Earth, and both eclipses may not be total. For example, the lunar eclipse in early March 2026 has a corresponding solar eclipse in late February 2026, but that solar eclipse is only visible to viewers in Antarctica, the far southern tip of South America, and far southeast Africa and Madagascar.
To dive more into the explanation of both solar and lunar eclipses, check out our blog Solar Eclipses And Lunar Eclipses Explained.
When Is The Next Lunar Eclipse?
The next lunar eclipse visible from the Chicago area is early in the morning on March 3, 2026.
The Moon will be in the southwestern sky when the eclipse starts at 2:44 a.m. CST. As it appears lower and lower in our sky, the Moon begins to pass into the lighter outer part of the Earth’s shadow. The color of the Moon will start to change from bright light gray to a progressively deeper tan.
At 3:50 a.m. CST, the Moon will start to darken considerably as it begins to enter the Earth’s inner darker shadow. More and more of the Earth’s shadow will darken the Moon, making it look like an ever-increasing bite is taken out of it.
Totality, when the Moon is fully within the Earth’s umbra shadow, lasts from 5:04 a.m. CST until 6:02 a.m. CST. The Moon will be very low in the western sky at this point, so make sure you have a clear view to the western horizon. After totality is over, the Moon sets for viewers in the Chicagoland area just before 6:30 a.m. CST, so we’ll miss most of the end of the eclipse.
Can I See The Total Lunar Eclipse From My Location?
Each eclipse has different visibility and timing depending on your location. To see the lunar eclipse visibility map and the eclipse timing for the March 2026 lunar eclipse, check out Time and Date’s total lunar eclipse interactive map.
Please note that for some areas, the eclipse starts when it is still the late evening on March 2, so be sure to check your exact local timing for your location.
Tips For Viewing A Lunar Eclipse
If it is clear out and you are away from tall buildings and trees, you should have no trouble spotting the eclipse, at least at the beginning of it, for viewers in the Chicago area. As the Moon moves lower toward the western horizon, it will be harder to see due to local obstructions. Near the end of totality, the Moon will be extremely low in the sky and more difficult to see.
Here are a few more tips to make your viewing spectacular:
- Check the weather beforehand and dress appropriately. Lunar eclipses usually take several hours from start to finish.
- Double-check the time of each lunar eclipse phase in your time zone leading up to totality. The timing to view a lunar eclipse depends on your time zone at the moment when the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow.
- Don’t stress about needing a telescope or binoculars—you don’t need any special equipment to see a lunar eclipse. If you can see the Moon with just your eyes at any other time, you can see a darker version of the Moon with just your eyes.
If it isn’t clear out in your location, you can watch a live broadcast of the lunar eclipse on the Time and Date website.
Our Astronomy Educators Explain Lunar Eclipses
Learn about what happens during a lunar eclipse and watch as the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow during a previous total lunar eclipse in a prior episode of Sky Observers Hangout.
This episode was streamed live from the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale on March 14, 2025.
What Is Artemis II? Launch Date, Crew, And NASA’s Next Moon Mission Explained
Header Image: The full Moon rises behind NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/John Kraus
Earth’s Moon has captivated humanity ever since our distant ancestors first looked up at it. We saw its phases with the naked eye and our earliest telescopes showed us its plains, mountains, and craters. We wondered what it was like to go there.
A Brief History of Lunar Exploration
When the Space Age began in 1957, it did not take long before the Moon became the primary exploration target. After learning how to live in space and operate our spacecraft during the Mercury and Gemini programs, NASA’s successes in the Apollo program drew us ahead of the Soviet Union and put the United States’ science, engineering, technology, and industrial might on worldwide display.
After the Apollo 7, 8, 9, and 10 test flights in Earth orbit and Moon orbit in 1968 and 1969, NASA accomplished Apollo 11’s successful Moon landing in July 1969. From 1969 to 1972, twelve astronauts walked and worked on the Moon during the Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions. To date, the United States is the only country to have landed astronauts on the Moon.
Why Did We Go To The Moon?
Putting people on the Moon was the main reason for going there, but it was not the only reason: scientific discovery was an important part of the effort, too. Thanks to the data from dozens of science instruments placed on the Moon and from studying hundreds of pounds of rocks brought back from the lunar surface, we learned how old the Moon is and started to constrain the scientific models to explain how the Moon originally formed.
What Happened After The Apollo Missions?
Apollo 17’s astronauts left the surface of the Moon on December 14, 1972, and since then, humans have not returned. NASA’s attention in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s was mainly focused on the space shuttle program, constructing and completing the International Space Station (ISS), and building and operating hundreds of spacecraft and telescopes to explore our Earth, Sun, Solar System, and the rest of the universe.
Slowly, scientists have been turning our attention back to the Moon. There is so much more we still want to know about Earth’s closest neighbor in space! Uncrewed orbiters, landers, impactors, and rovers from space agencies and private companies in the United States, the Soviet Union, Russia, China, Japan, the European Space Agency, India, Pakistan, and South Korea have all explored our Moon.
NASA’s Artemis Program
NASA began making plans to return people to the Moon starting in the mid-2000s, including work on new rocket designs and spacecraft to get us there. In 2017, the Artemis program was established, building on the former Constellation program efforts of the prior decade.
Why Are We Going Back To The Moon?
The goals of Artemis are to return humans to the surface of the Moon and to lay the groundwork for future long-term human presence there. Artemis is working towards landing people near craters at the Moon’s largely unexplored south pole. The program is also working to establish a long-term presence in lunar orbit aboard a new space station called Gateway. The first mission in the program, Artemis I, was an uncrewed test mission that successfully flew SLS and Orion in November–December 2022.
Artemis is a complex program featuring:
- A heavy-lift rocket called Space Launch System (SLS)
- A crew-carrying spacecraft named Orion
- Partnerships with Canada, the European Space Agency, Japan, and other countries to provide hardware, expertise, and astronauts
- Dozens of contracted private companies such as Blue Origin, Intuitive Machines, Firefly Aerospace, SpaceX, and many others. Private companies will first bring science instruments to the Moon and, later, their hardware will bring astronauts to the lunar surface from lunar orbit.
Artemis II: The Next Crewed Mission To The Moon
Artemis II is the next mission in the series, and it is the first one that will include a crew. For the first time since Apollo 17, humans will venture toward the Moon! Four astronauts will make the journey aboard their Orion spacecraft named Integrity. The outbound trip from Earth will last about four days, looping around the far side of the Moon. They’ll be about 4,600 miles beyond the Moon’s surface—around 230,000 miles from Earth—which will be the farthest humans have ever traveled.
The Integrity spacecraft will not go into lunar orbit or land astronauts on the Moon. Rather, the crew will focus on performing critical tests of various systems that will be used in future lunar missions, such as Artemis III. During the four-day return trip, the astronauts will continue to evaluate the spacecraft’s systems, before landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Who Is On The Crew Of Artemis II?
Artemis II will carry four astronauts representing the United States and Canada. The crew includes the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Canadian to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Artemis II crew members include:
- Commander: Reid Wiseman
- American. Prior experience: 165 consecutive days in space, flew aboard the ISS
- Pilot: Victor Glover
- American. Prior experience: 168 consecutive days in space, flew aboard the ISS
- Mission Specialist: Christina Hammock Koch
- American. Prior experience: 6 spacewalks, 328 consecutive days in space (longest single duration for any woman!), flew aboard the ISS
- Mission Specialist: Jeremy Hansen
- Canadian. Prior experience: Served as capcom (the voice between mission control and astronauts in space), Artemis II is his first spaceflight.
Artemis II Launch Updates
On February 2 and 3, 2026, NASA conducted a “wet dress rehearsal” to go through an entire simulated countdown, loading, and unloading of 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen aboard Artemis II’s SLS rocket for the first time.
Several problems occurred throughout the rehearsal event. There were periodic liquid hydrogen leaks due to issues with a few seals, and it took longer than planned for the ground crew to finish all of their countdown tasks. Additionally, there were periodic dropouts in audio communications, and cold weather affected some cameras and equipment.
NASA will first work on fixing the various problems that occurred before conducting a second wet dress rehearsal.
When Is Artemis II’s Launch Date?
Artemis II is currently scheduled for “no earlier than” March 2026. Specific launch windows depend on mission readiness and final testing of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Available launch dates and times are:
- March 6 at 7:29 pm CST, launch window is 120 minutes
- March 7 at 7:57 pm CST, launch window is 120 minutes
- March 8 at 9:56 pm CST, launch window is 120 minutes
- March 9 at 10:52 pm CST, launch window is 120 minutes
- March 10 at 11:48 pm CST, launch window is 115 minutes
If the mission cannot launch by March 10, the next available launch dates are April 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 30, 2026.
These particular dates and times ensure that Earth and the Moon are in the right places in space for Integrity to get to where it needs to go. “No earlier than” means the launch won’t be before those dates, but it could either be during these dates or during a later set of dates, depending on the testing and required fixes.
As of the posting of the blog February 13, 2026, there is no confirmed launch date, only a set of available dates. NASA will choose a launch date pending their review of all of the results of repairs, testing, and the second wet dress rehearsal.
We’ll be updating this blog with the latest updates on the Artemis II mission, so check back soon or subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest space updates straight in your inbox.
Adler Skywatch: February 2026
Header image: Silhouette of a person looking through a small telescope at dusk
Two planets that have been hidden in the glare of the Sun for some time begin to emerge into darker skies this month. Here’s your guide on what to see in the sky in February 2026!
Visible Planets In February 2026
How To See Mercury
The planet Mercury appears to move away slightly from the Sun this month, having been too close to it last month for visibility. Mercury still appears somewhat close to the Sun in the sky, so you’ll need a clear view to the west-southwest horizon to spot it. To protect your eyesight, don’t attempt to look for Mercury until at least 40 minutes after the Sun is entirely below the horizon. This means any viewing must be done when the planet is very close to the horizon. The evening of February 18, the planet looms above the dark edge of the setting Moon, only one day after the new Moon. In the Chicago area, this conjunction is visible only a few degrees above the horizon, if at all.
Where Is Venus In The Sky?
During the last few days of February, if you can spot Mercury—and if your horizon sight-lines are clear—you may be able to also spot the brightest planet, Venus, slightly below and to the left of Mercury. But remember, don’t start looking until at least 30–40 minutes after the Sun is fully below the horizon. Next month, Venus will become much easier to see in the early evening.
How To See Saturn
For the past few months, Saturn has been the main evening planet visible to the naked eye. In February, Saturn sets earlier each evening, while the Sun sets later. By the end of the month, Saturn is setting less than two hours after the Sun. Look for Saturn now, while you can, since for most of March it will appear too close to the Sun for safe viewing.
Additionally, Saturn’s brightness is around magnitude 1 in February. At the start of the month, it appears in evening twilight about 30 degrees above the southwest horizon. By mid-February, it’s about 25 degrees in the west-southwest sky. By month’s end, it appears only about 15 degrees above the west-southwest horizon. The evening of February 19, Saturn appears less than three degrees to the left of a very slim waxing crescent Moon, creating a lovely planetary conjunction.
Jupiter In The February Night Sky
On the opposite side of the evening sky, Jupiter becomes the main sight. At brighter than -2 magnitude, it’s easier to spot than Saturn. In fact, it’s the brightest natural object, besides the Moon, in the evening sky for most of the month! However, when Venus comes back into view later in the month and into March, it will outshine Jupiter.
At the start of the month, Jupiter pops into view about 25–30 degrees high in the eastern sky during evening twilight. By the end of the month, it appears about 50–60 degrees high in the east-southeast. Around 9:30 pm, the planet reaches its highest point in the sky, about 70 degrees up in the south. It will set in the west-northwest around 6:30 am early in the month, and around 4:30 am late in the month. Plus, keep an eye out on the evening of February 26, when a waxing gibbous Moon appears roughly five degrees away from Jupiter.
The planet Mars is too faint and appears too close to the Sun this month to be readily visible.
How To See The Moon And Pleiades Conjunction
In January 2026, there was a conjunction—a close encounter—between the Moon and the Pleiades star cluster. This month, the pair meet again in the sky, and they appear even closer than they did in January! The night of February 23, the dark edge of the first quarter Moon grazes the Pleiades. Because the conjunction starts along the Moon’s dark edge, the star cluster should be easier to see than it was during last month’s conjunction.
Begin looking for the Moon and the Pleiades in the southwestern sky in evening twilight. The two are together for the rest of the night, setting within ten minutes of each other shortly after 1:00 am.
February’s Annular Solar Eclipse
In case you’ve heard that a solar eclipse is occurring this month, it’s true, and it occurs on February 17. It’s an annular solar eclipse, meaning the Moon will not entirely block out the Sun’s disk, and will appear as a ring of light around the Moon as it eclipses the Sun.
Before you get too excited, the February 17 solar eclipse will not be visible in Chicago, or anywhere in North America. The full annular eclipse is visible only in Antarctica and the southern Indian Ocean. A partial solar eclipse is visible in limited locations in southern Africa and South America. If you’re located outside of the U.S., see if you can view the solar eclipse here.
February Moon Phases
Full Moon: February 1
Last Quarter Moon: February 9
New Moon: February 17—Lunar New Year
First Quarter Moon: February 24
Please note: these descriptions are for the Chicago area, using Central time.
Get More Stargazing Tips
Get more tips on what you can see in the February sky! Hunter explains how to see the planetary parade of six planets at the end of February, 2026. Don’t miss a chance to see Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus.
Subscribe To Skywatch Wednesday This February
Tour the sky with the Adler Planetarium’s Theaters Manager, Nick, in Skywatch Wednesday. Nick uses cutting-edge visualizations, NASA images, and astrophotography to show you what you can see in the night sky throughout the year.
Check out Nick’s latest episode to guide you through the winter night sky. Learn what stars, planets, and constellations you can see in the winter of 2025–2026. Discover how to find famous winter constellations like Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Canis Major and Minor, and the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and even Saturn without its rings. Plus, see the lunar occultation of Regulus in February!
Happy Valentine’s Day “With Love, from the Man on the Moon”
Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in 2019 and written by Carlyn Hill, Former Content Strategist. It has been updated with more current information.
The greatest love story on Earth didn’t take place on Earth at all—it happened 238,900 away from Earth on our celestial neighbor! In honor of Valentine’s Day, hear the grand romantic gesture Captain James A. Lovell Jr. made while orbiting the Moon on Apollo 8.
“You want the Moon? Say the word, and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.” Anyone who’s seen the 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life knows this infamous line. But did you know that 50 years ago, an astronaut we all know and love actually made good on this larger-than-life promise in his own way?
If you want to be truly romantic this Valentine’s Day, take a note out of Captain James A. Lovell Jr.’s flight plans (and not just because “love” is in his name). Over fifty years ago, on Apollo 8, he became one of three astronauts to make history by becoming the first crew to orbit the Moon. But on that day, he also made history by making the greatest romantic gesture in the history of humankind.
While many families were with their families on Christmas Eve in 1968, Marilyn Lovell—along with millions of others—was listening to her husband and his crewmates read from the book of Genesis (a broadcast you can hear & watch in our Mission Moon exhibit!) while orbiting the Moon. In terms of long-distance relationships, the several days Lovell was in space is guaranteed to take the cake.
One of Lovell’s jobs on Apollo 8 was to look for distinctive lunar features in order to find suitable landing sites for the future crew that would eventually make the first Moon landing. He noticed a small, triangular mountain that had yet to be named, right on the Sea of Tranquility. Its location was perfect, right on the flight line of the proposed landing course for the future Apollo 11 mission and would make for the perfect descent point. In Lovell’s words,
“I named it ‘Mt. Marilyn’ after my wife and briefed the astronauts when I returned.”
This is probably the closest you can get to actually throwing a lasso around the Moon for your loved one. This officially-named Moon feature will be referred to as Mt. Marilyn for generations. And sure enough, the Apollo 11 crew used Mt. Marilyn as their initial landing descent point for the Moon landing the next year!
We can’t all journey to the Moon and name craters, mountains, and ridges after our loved ones. But here’s another part of this Love(ll) story that we can try to apply to our gift-giving!
Before leaving on the Apollo 8 mission, Capt. Lovell arranged to have a fur coat delivered to his wife, Marilyn, on Christmas Day. So that on Christmas Eve—while he was seemingly worlds away—the gift was delivered to Marilyn with a note signed, “With love, from the Man on the Moon.”
Space exploration may seem like the most out-of-this-world thing we can do. Space exploration is about testing the limits of our knowledge and abilities, expanding our perspective, bringing us all a little closer together, and better understanding the human place in the Universe.
At the end of one of the most turbulent decades in American history, it was a crew of three men in space who drew millions of people together. Perhaps that’s why a grand gesture of love taking place so far outside of our atmosphere is so striking—it shows that love truly has no limits.
Honoring The Life And Legacy Of Astronaut Jim Lovell
It is with incredibly heavy hearts that we share that Captain James A. Lovell Jr. passed away. NASA astronaut and lifelong friend of the Adler, Captain Lovell was one of our heroes. His work on the Apollo missions, his extraordinary leadership, and his grace under pressure inspired the whole world. His passion for space exploration—and the work he did to share it with generations of kids and adults—continues to inspire us every day. The Adler has had the great privilege of working closely with Capt. Lovell for more than a decade, caring for many of his personal artifacts, and sharing his story with all of you.
Give to the James A. Lovell Legacy Fund
Unique Chicago Date Ideas At The Adler Planetarium
Header image: a couple holds hands while looking at the Atwood Sphere in the Adler Planetarium’s exhibit, Chicago’s Night Sky.
Chicago is a city full of possibilities, opportunities, and adventures. But with so many options for places to go and things to do in Chicago, how do you find the perfect date spot amidst the lists of Chicago date ideas?
The Adler Planetarium is the perfect place for a unique date where you’ll get closer to your loved one—and the universe! While all of our exhibits and shows are worth seeing, we think these five are particularly well-suited for a memorable date under the stars. Here’s your guide to must-see spots at the Adler for a truly unique Chicago date—whether you’re testing your astrological compatibility or enjoying skyline views.
A Unique Chicago Date Idea At The Adler Planetarium
Stroll Through Space And Time At The Adler
Image caption: A woman gazes at imagery of the universe on the giant visualization wall in the Adler Planetarium’s exhibit, The Universe: A Walk through Time and Space.
Where else in Chicago can you take a romantic walk through space and time?
In our exhibit, The Universe: A Walk through Time and Space, you’ll walk through the timeline of the universe, guided by immersive lights, sounds, and space visualizations. Then, you’ll look at things with a new perspective, zooming in on the smallest atoms and zooming out to the massive expanse of a galaxy on our giant visualization wall.
By the end of the exhibit, you’ll realize just how special it is that you two found each other in this massive, ever-expanding universe.
The Perfect Indoor Stargazing Experience In Chicago
Image caption: Three silhouettes in front of a blue and pink image of a nebula in one of the dome theaters at the Adler Planetarium.
There’s nothing more romantic than stargazing, but in Chicago, the light pollution outshines the stars. Luckily, at the Adler you can take your date stargazing without having to leave the city!
Skywatch Live is an immersive dome theater show that turns down the city lights and cranks up the stars so you and your date can appreciate the night sky like never before. This guided show takes you from the Chicago skyline, straight into outer space. You’ll learn what you can see in the night sky and even travel to see some distant planets.
Step inside the dome theater, get comfy, and immerse yourself in breathtaking space visualizations.
Feel The Thrill Of A Spacewalk Together
Image caption: A couple holding hands at the Adler Planetarium beneath colorful lights and stars.
Planet Explorers—our interactive exhibit for kids ages 3–8—might not sound like an obvious stop on a Chicago date. But tucked inside the spaceship is one of the Adler Planetarium’s hidden gems for adults: the Spacewalk Experience.
Hold your date’s hand tight as you step into this immersive space simulator. Whether you’re facing your greatest fears, chasing a thrill, or exploring your desire for space travel, this will get your adrenaline pumping!
Fun fact: Did you know that adrenaline is one of the hormones involved in creating feelings of attraction and emotional bonding? So if you’re looking for a Chicago date idea that will truly bring you closer, this might be your moment.
Explore Astrological Compatibility Together
Image caption: Inside the Adler Planetarium’s exhibit, Stars Aligned.
At the start of relationships, things can feel so wonderful that it’s as if your love was written in the stars. In Stars Aligned, our newest exhibit exploring the history of astronomy and astrology, you can see if it actually was!
Astrology has played an important role in our understanding of space. Explore the stars’ role in early modern people’s decision-making—including romantic compatibility and choosing wedding dates. You and your date will be able to decide for yourself if your relationship’s horoscope is worth listening to.
Enjoy Chicago’s Museum Campus And Skyline Views
Image caption: A couple sitting on the sidewalk outside the Adler Planetarium, enjoying the view of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline.
It wouldn’t be a true Chicago date if you can’t enjoy the beauty of the city. The Adler Planetarium’s location on the Museum Campus gives you everything you’re looking for on a date in the city: Lake Michigan and one of the most iconic Chicago skyline views.
Whether you’re visiting during the day or our evening hours on Wednesday nights, at the Adler you’ll get to enjoy both the beauty of space and Chicago. After your visit, take a stroll hand-in-hand along the lake, dip your toes in Lake Michigan, and don’t forget to commemorate the day with a picture in front of the best view in Chicago.
Plan your next Chicago date at the Adler Planetarium—get tickets today!
Gravitational Waves And The Search For Hierarchical Black Hole Mergers
Header image: Illustration of two black holes surrounded by disks of gas and dust, spiraling toward each other as they merge. Image Credit: Carl Knox / OzGrav / Swinburne University of Technology
Written by Adler Planetarium Astronomer, Dr. Shanika Galaudage
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime created by accelerating objects such as black holes and neutron stars spiraling together and merging. These waves move at the speed of light, stretching and squeezing space as they pass, bringing us information about some of the universe’s most powerful events. Since scientists first detected gravitational waves in 2015, we have gained a whole new way to explore the universe. These ripples in spacetime let us ‘hear’ the universe in a way Einstein could only dream of.
In fact, we just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the first gravitational wave detection, which earned a Nobel Prize for scientists Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish. Their contributions to LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) changed the way we understand the universe. Sadly, we also lost Rainer Weiss in the lead-up to this historic milestone, just shy of the 10th anniversary. Weiss was a visionary, and his passing marked a somber moment for the community, but his legacy continues to shape the future of gravitational wave astronomy.
The Role Of LIGO And The NSF In Gravitational Wave Research
Discovering Gravitational Waves
The discovery of gravitational waves would not have been possible without decades of research, collaboration, and funding. The National Science Foundation (NSF) played an instrumental role in supporting the LIGO project—one of the most ambitious scientific endeavors ever undertaken. In an era where scientific funding can be uncertain, the NSF’s continued investment in this area has paid off, yielding groundbreaking results that have reshaped our understanding of the cosmos.
When gravitational-wave detectors were first being developed, many were skeptical about whether such faint, almost imperceptible signals could ever be picked up by human-made instruments. Even with really massive objects like black holes, the gravitational waves we detect would be incredibly tiny, roughly 1/10,000th the size of a proton’s diameter! But against all odds, the LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana managed to detect the first-ever gravitational wave signal, originating from the merger of two black holes!
Gravitational Wave Research Today
Since then, LIGO along with detectors around the world (Italy’s Virgo and Japan’s KAGRA) have detected hundreds of gravitational wave events! These detections have provided critical insights into the mass and spin of black holes, phenomena that were previously beyond the reach of traditional telescopes. These gravitational waves signals were produced by binary systems, where two compact objects, like black holes, orbit one another in a cosmic dance before spiraling together and merging.
Want to take a deeper dive into gravitational waves and how they’ve changed astronomy? Learn more from our astronomer and gravitational wave expert, Dr. Michael Zevin.
Meet The New Gravitational Waves: GW241011 and GW241110
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration recently announced the discovery of two new gravitational-wave events: GW241011 and GW241110 (GW stands for “gravitational wave” and the numbers are its discovery date). These events are strikingly similar, and not just in their names! Both of these signals were created by the merger of an unequal mass pair of black holes. And in both systems, the heavier black hole spins very rapidly. By looking at the properties of the systems, we can begin to understand how and where the systems form and evolve.
GW241011
Let’s start with GW241011. Detected on October 11, 2024, this was a merger between two black holes with masses of 20 and 6 times the mass of our Sun. The spin direction of the heavier black hole was in the same direction as the pair’s orbit and spinning incredibly fast, around 69–87 percent of the maximum possible spin rate.
GW241110
GW241110, detected about a month later on November 10, 2024, showed us a slightly different scenario. The masses were in a similar range, with the black holes being 17 and 8 times the mass of the Sun. However, the spin of the more massive black hole was rotating in the opposite direction (or anti-aligned) to the orbit of the binary. The larger black hole was spinning at a similarly impressive rate of 21–94 percent of the maximum possible spin rate!
What We Learned From GW241011 and GW241110
The unequal masses, combined with high spins and anti-alignment, suggest that the larger black holes may be what we called a second-generation black hole—meaning it formed from a previous black hole merger! This process where black holes merge, and merge again is called hierarchical formation.
Check out the infographic below for a highlight of the results created by yours truly!
Hierarchical Formation: Black Holes That Merge, Then Merge Again
One intriguing detail about these events is that both GW241011 and GW241110 may have involved hierarchical mergers. But what does this mean? Essentially the larger black holes in both events could have come from the merger of smaller black holes in a previous generation rather than collapsing from stars.
Evidence Of Hierarchical Formation
But why do we suspect hierarchical formation? In both events, the more massive black holes have very fast spins, the systems have unequal masses, and in one of the cases, we have a black hole that is anti-aligned. These are features that are hard to explain if the black hole were born together from a pair of massive stars in isolation.
When black holes merge, the resulting black hole has both the spin of the previous black holes as well as the spin from the orbital notion as well. Therefore black holes that have formed from black hole mergers are larger but also have higher spins. If you have black holes that are randomly meeting each other in a dense star cluster, their spin tilts don’t necessarily have to be aligned with respect to the binary orbit. In contrast, black holes that form in isolated binary star systems—also known as the galactic field—tend to have similar masses and aligned spins tilts.
This is why scientists think that hierarchical mergers happen in dense stellar environments like globular clusters or nuclear star clusters, because this is where black holes can frequently interact, pair up, merge, and merge again sometimes. In the galactic field, stars and black holes are so spaced far apart that repeated encounters are pretty much impossible.
While the hierarchical formation scenario seems like the best explanation for these events, we cannot rule out other formation scenarios, and this is a big area of research in the field. Researchers at the Adler, such as myself and Dr. Michael Zevin, are interested in investigating and understanding just how these black hole systems form and evolve.
A New Era For Gravitational Wave Research
The field of gravitational wave astronomy has come a long way in just 10 years! The ability to detect these signals has opened up an entirely new window into the universe. As our detectors improve, and we refine our technology, the field will become even more exciting and improve our understanding of these colliding giants across the cosmos.
There are also plans for more gravitational wave detectors such as Cosmic Explorer and LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). Cosmic Explorer is set to be the next generation of ground-based detectors, with arms 40 km long, much longer than the current ground-based observatories, which have arms just a few kilometers long. LISA will be a space-based detector with an arm-length of 2.5 million kilometers! It will also have a different configuration, a triangle shaped configuration instead of an L-shaped one.
With these future detectors, we will push the boundaries even further to span a wider range of signal frequencies! We’ll be able to see larger black holes collide, and even smaller black holes plunging into supermassive black holes. We will also be able to listen to signals from deeper in the universe—maybe even from the earliest moments after the Big Bang!
As we celebrate these achievements, it’s also important to remember that continued funding will be crucial for sustaining the progress in gravitational wave research. With ongoing shifts in priorities funding astronomy, the future of gravitational wave research will face some challenges, but as long as scientists and the public alike are keen for these discoveries to continue, the future will remain bright AND loud in astronomy.
Learn More From Our Astronomers
Get more space with Adler Planetarium astronomers on our YouTube Channel! Ever wondered what dark matter actually is, or if we’re living in a simulation? Hear directly from our experts on some of the most commonly asked—and not so commonly asked—astronomy questions.
Adler Skywatch: January 2026
Header image: the full Moon in a dark, cloudy sky.
Both the Sun and the Moon get a little closer to Earth than usual this month, January 2026. Here is your guide to the January 2026 sky!
Earth’s Perihelion
Earth’s orbit around the Sun is not a circle—it’s more of an ellipse, a type of oval shape. A perfectly circular orbit would have the Sun at its center, with Earth an equal distance away year-round. However, with an oval-shaped orbit, Earth can be nearer or farther away from the Sun on a given date.
This year, Earth reached perihelion—AKA its closest point to the Sun for the year—on January 3 at about 11:00 am Central Time. During perihelion, the Earth and the Sun were 91.4 million miles apart. On average, Earth is about 93 million miles from the Sun. Conversely, during aphelion—Earth’s farthest point from the Sun—there is about 94.5 million miles between them. Aphelion occurs in 2026 on July 6. From perihelion to aphelion, there is a roughly three million mile difference in the Earth-Sun distance throughout its orbit.
January’s Supermoon
The final two full Moons of 2025 were considered supermoons due to their closer-than-usual positioning near Earth. The first full Moon of 2026—which occurred in the early-morning darkness of January 3—is also considered a supermoon—though not quite as “super” as the 2025 supermoons.
On average, the Moon is about 238,900 miles away. January 3’s full Moon was about 225,000 miles from Earth. The last two supermoons (on December 4 and November 5, 2025) were about 3,000 miles closer than this month’s full supermoon.
January Planet Spotting
How To See Saturn
The planet Saturn is visible about an hour after sunset and roughly halfway up in the southern skies in January. Early in the month, it’s in the south-southwest skies, but with the Sun setting later each evening, it won’t be visible until it gets further west in the sky during evening twilight. By month’s end, look for Saturn in the southwest sky.
See Jupiter At Its Brightest
The bright planet Jupiter rises in the east-northeast near the end of evening twilight at the start of the month. As the evenings pass, Jupiter rises earlier, popping into view in evening twilight during mid-month. Late in the month, Jupiter rises in the east-northeast around 3:00 pm, when the Sun is still above the horizon in the west-southwest.
Its brightness is unmistakable, brighter than -2.5 magnitude. On January 10 it reaches opposition—its brightest point for the year. It’s about 70 degrees above the horizon around 12:30 am early in the month, around 11:30 pm mid-month, and around 10:30 pm late in the month. Jupiter will still be visible during morning twilight, low in the west-northwest sky. On the evening of January 30, you can use the Moon to help find it, as the waxing gibbous Moon will appear near Jupiter.
Where Are Mercury, Venus, and Mars?
The planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars spend the month clustered close to the Sun in the sky, and thus are not visible.
The Moon and Pleiades Conjunction
During evening twilight on January 27, keep an eye on the waxing gibbous Moon. The Sun sets around 5:00 pm this day, and if the sky is clear, you’ll also be able to see the Moon about 60 degrees high in the east-southeastern sky. About 60–90 minutes later, as the sky gets darker and the Moon gets higher, look again. Barely a degree away from the lit side of the Moon, you may be able to spot the Pleiades, a twinkly star cluster in the constellation Taurus!
The Moon’s light may prohibit seeing the nearby Pleiades until later in the evening, but this lovely star cluster remains within a few degrees of the Moon until it sets in the west-northwest around 2:30 am on January 28.
January 2026 Moon Phases
Full Moon: January 3
Last Quarter Moon: January 10
New Moon: January 18
First Quarter Moon: January 25
Please note: these descriptions are for the Chicago area, using Central time.
Subscribe To Skywatch Wednesday In The New Year
Tour the sky with the Adler Planetarium’s Theaters Manager, Nick, in Skywatch Wednesday. Nick uses cutting-edge visualizations, NASA images, and astrophotography to show you what you can see in the night sky throughout the year.
Check out Nick’s latest episode to guide you through the winter night sky. Learn how to find famous winter constellations like Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Canis Major and minor, and the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and even Saturn without its rings. Plus, see the lunar occultation of Regulus in February!
Learn From Our Astronomy Educators
Watch recaps of Sky Observers Hangout livestreams this January! Learn how to observe upcoming cosmic happenings, enhance your astrophotography skills, and see celestial objects through a telescope virtually with our astronomy educators.
In their latest episode, Michelle and Hunter guide you through a tour of the zodiac constellations. Explore the historical connections between astronomy and astrology, learn what signs of the zodiac you can see in the sky this winter, and observe some of the wonders found hiding within these famous constellations.
What Are Gravitational Waves: A New Window Into The Universe
Header image: Illustration of gravitational waves after a merger of two black holes. Gravitational waves ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. Image credit: LIGO/T. Pyle
Written by The Adler Planetarium’s Astronomer, Dr. Michael Zevin.
Humanity’s understanding of the universe has evolved in parallel with new methods of observing the cosmos. Our ancient ancestors tracked and cataloged the motion of heavenly bodies, and by the early 17th century, the invention of the telescope allowed us to observe dimmer, more distant objects. In the 19th century, we began relying on astronomical photography—which allows us to expose images of the universe for longer periods of time—and astronomical spectroscopy—which breaks apart light into its constituent colors.
By the 20th century, we could observe the universe in energies and colors of light that the human eye cannot see and we finally bypassed Earth’s atmosphere by sending telescopes into space. All of these advancements have improved our understanding of the cosmos, unveiling new mysteries in the process.
What you may not realize is that there is a commonality between all of these astronomical advances. They all rely on collecting a single form of information—electromagnetic radiation, which you may know better as “light.” For almost the entire history of astronomy, light has been the sole cosmic messenger we’ve used to glean information from the vast universe beyond our solar system.
However, it is still only one form of information, one sense that we can collect information with. What could we learn if we were able to collect information using other senses? Rather than just seeing the universe, what else would we discover if we could hear or feel it?
What Are Gravitational Waves?
There are other messengers from the universe beyond just light. One of these messengers is called gravitational radiation or gravitational waves. This phenomenon was predicted by Albert Einstein over a century ago as a byproduct of his theory of general relativity.
General Relativity
The theory of general relativity is our modern understanding of how gravity, space, and time operate in the universe. In a nutshell, it tells us that matter and energy curve the fabric of space. This curved space tells things like planets, stars, and galaxies how to move. If objects are accelerating through the malleable fabric of space, they create ripples in the fabric of space itself. These ripples are known as gravitational waves.
Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light and are completely invisible to a telescope, but provide a form of information from the universe that is completely independent from light! The direct detection of gravitational waves is analogous to hearing the sounds of the universe for the first time and can unveil unprecedented information about astrophysical objects that are notoriously difficult to study with light, such as black holes.
Observing Gravitational Waves
If gravitational waves are invisible, how can we detect them? As gravitational waves pass through space, they cause space itself—and everything within it—to expand and contract. For example, when a gravitational wave passes through our planet, it causes the equator to stretch, and the distance between the poles to squeeze, ever so slightly—and vice versa.
However, spacetime is exceptionally “stiff” and even the strongest gravitational waves have an unbelievably miniscule effect. For example, a passing gravitational wave from the collision of two black holes might stretch and squeeze the Earth by about the width of a proton, which is about a thousand trillionth of a meter. In fact, these signals are so elusive that even Einstein himself thought that we would never be able to detect them and use them to study the cosmos.
The Best Rulers Ever Built
To observe gravitational waves, we use high-powered lasers that act as an incredibly precise ruler. The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA gravitational-wave network does this with four separate detectors around the world: the twin LIGO detectors in Washington and Louisiana, the Virgo detector in Italy, and the KAGRA detector in Japan.
These detectors are giant L-shaped devices with two vacuum chamber arms that are each 2.5 miles long. The laser is sent down the two arms, bounces off mirrors at the ends of the arms, and comes back to interact with the light that went down the other arm. Because of the wave-like nature of the light in the lasers, we can detect interference when the two light beams recombine if the arms have a slight difference in length from a passing gravitational wave.
Gravitational Wave Research
The First Gravitational Wave Detected
On September 14, 2015, almost exactly a century after Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, a screaming loud signal was observed in the LIGO detectors. Based on how the arms of the LIGO detectors wiggled, we could tell a lot about the system that created the gravitational-wave signal: two black holes about a billion lightyears away, each about 30 times the mass of the Sun, spiraling towards one another and merging.
This signal was one of the most monumental discoveries in modern physics, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. For the first time, we were able to hear the sounds of spacetime and use gravitational waves as a new sense to collect information from the universe!
Gravitational Wave Research Today
Since this discovery, the field of gravitational-wave astronomy has exploded. The last full observing run of gravitational-wave detectors completed in 2020, and at that time nearly 100 confident gravitational-wave events were observed. These didn’t just come from merging black holes; the dense remnant cores of massive stars called neutron stars were also observed in gravitational waves.
In fact, one infamous system of two merging neutron stars was observed in both electromagnetic and gravitational radiation—a “multi-messenger” event! When two neutron stars merge, they not only emit gravitational waves, but also a burst of high-energy radiation called a gamma-ray burst and an explosion powered by radioactive decay called a kilonova.
Kilonovas create a beautiful light show and are responsible for synthesizing most of the heavy elements on the periodic table (so you can thank them for generating the gold, silver, and platinum we have here on Earth).
Despite the groundbreaking gravitational-wave discoveries during the first half-decade of observations, the field of gravitational-wave astronomy is still in its nascent stages.
The network of gravitational-wave detectors turned back on for another observing run in May 2023, with hundreds more systems expected to be detected over the next few years. Expect quite a fanfare, with black holes, and neutron stars galore!
Learn More From Our Astronomers
Get more space with Adler Planetarium astronomers on our YouTube Channel! Ever wondered what dark matter actually is, or if we’re living in a simulation? Hear directly from our experts on some of the most commonly asked—and not so commonly asked—astronomy questions.
Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ Fulldome Show Now Playing At The Adler Planetarium
Header Image: A theater with seats that has a 360-degree screen, and projected onto the screen is an image of a dark night sky with white star trails, a rainbow heartbeat pulse, and three pyramids.
The Adler Planetarium is excited to announce, beginning January 1, 2026, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon fulldome show returns for another year-long run. The Dark Side Of The Moon takes guests on a visual journey through space against the backdrop of one of the best-selling albums of all time, created and distributed in partnership with the band and the International Planetarium Society (IPS).
The Dark Side of The Moon Returns to Adler Planetarium
Transcend reality—with this immersive space and musical experience in this 45-minute planetarium show.
“The show itself will be divided between the 10 tracks on the album, and in chronological order; each having a different theme; some futuristically looking forward and some a retro acknowledgement to Pink Floyd’s visual history, all relating to a time and space experience, embracing up to the minute technology that only a planetarium can offer,” says Pink Floyd album cover designer Aubrey Powell.
“In the modern parlance it’s truly immersive; an all encompassing surround sound treat that will transcend reality and take you way beyond the realms of 2D experience.”
Viewer discretion is advised due to the explicit nature of some lyrics. Please be advised: this show may also cause motion sickness.
More Opportunities To See The Show
The Dark Side Of The Moon will play every day, as the last show of the day, during museum open hours. Tickets must be purchased in addition to a Museum Entry ticket or as an add-on to any museum admission package.
Free Museum Days For Illinois Residents
Illinois residents receive Museum Entry for free during Illinois Resident Discount Days. The Adler has added select Mondays in addition to its weekly Wednesday evening free admission calendar.
Winter Illinois Resident Free Days Include:
- January 7, 14, 21, 28 at 4:00 pm–10:00 pm
- January 12 and 26 at 9:00 am–4:00 pm
- February: 4, 11,18, 25 at 4:00 pm–10:00 pm
- February: 2, 9, 23 at 9:00 am–4:00 pm
- March: 4, 11, 18, 25 at 4:00 pm–10:00 pm
- March: 2 and 9 at 9:00 am–4:00 pm
- Follow Us!
VISIT
1300 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60605
Open Today From 9am – 4pm
*Last admission one hour before close.*
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