The Adler ‘Scope

Header Image: Graphic representation of the Leonid meteor shower with the constellation Leo. Evenings in the Chicago area are getting dark quite early this month, November 2019. Because Daylight Saving Time ended on the 3rd, the Sun now sets before 5:00 p.m. local time. It won’t be setting after 5:00 p.m. until late January. Shortly […]

By Mark SubbaRao, PhD and Colleen Cesaretti Header Image: Mark SubbaRao runs the first tech rehearsal for the 2019 November Kavli Lecture, A Universe of Surprises, in the Grainger Sky Theater. Equipped with two fulldome theaters within the Adler’s walls, global domecasting has become an innovative way that we connect with other planetariums, countries, and […]

Header Image: The distorted shapes in the cluster shown here are distant galaxies, from which the light is bent by the gravitational pull of dark matter within the cluster of galaxies. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), and the CLASH Team Greetings fellow astro-fans! Halloween is almost here, and as you know, it is […]

Orilla Fetro Exhibit Design Lead What first sparked your interest in exhibit design?  I became interested in exhibit design while working as an exhibit graphic designer at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I loved seeing ideas flow from concept sketches to fleshed out ideas into tangible interactives. You’ve been heavily involved in the designing of […]

The Atwood Sphere is the oldest sky simulator in the world still operating. Explore its unique history and how it came to call the Adler Planetarium home!

“Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM” is a series on The Adler ’Scope that highlights the awesome women of Chicago who are doing amazing things in science, technology, engineering, art, and math fields here in our own community. Meet women of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests and learn their unique stories. Felicia DavenportGraduate Research Assistant at […]

By Rosalía Lugo, Teen Programs Manager, and Colleen Cesaretti Header Image: 2017 group photo of Adler Interns, including former Adler Teen, Mia Berrios. Credit: Mia Berrios Over the years, many teens have passed through our front doors, and in honor of Latinx Heritage Month, we are celebrating two of our stellar former Adler Teens, David […]

Header Image: The far side of Earth’s Moon as seen based on data from cameras aboard NASA’s robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University Heads up! We’re blasting off into a very SPACE (and Moon) themed weekend. Today, we kick off World Space Week, which runs from October 4-10. This […]

Header Image: Orionid meteors appear every year around this time when Earth travels through an area of space littered with debris from Halley’s Comet. Credit: NASA/JPL The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer this month, October 2019. But the longer nights mean more night-sky objects to observe. During evening twilight this […]

Header Image: While C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) is too far away for us to get detailed images, it probably looks something like this image taken on March 27, 2016, by the Rosetta spacecraft, 329 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image measures 28.7 km across. Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam The Day the Adler Met an […]