The Adler ‘Scope

Header Image: Hubble’s new portrait of Jupiter. Header Image Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley). Before dawn breaks each morning, take a look at what is rising before the Sun this month, April 2022.   The first week of the month, the brightest planet, Venus, and […]

Header Image: Adler Planetarium’s Lookup graphic depicting the spring and fall celestial event, Chicagohenge It’s time to “spring forward” and experience one of Chicago’s most picturesque sky highlights this month, March 2022. Daylight Saving time for 2022 starts March 13, at 2:00 am local time. On this morning we “spring-forward” by setting our clocks ahead […]

Header Image: Adler Planetarium December 2021. Editor’s Note: Updated in September 2024 to reflect more current and updated exhibit information. As the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere (and one of the historic attractions located on Chicago’s Museum Campus) we’ve got some pretty stellar exhibits you don’t want to miss during your visit! Read on to […]

Header Image: Venus by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974 Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The brightest planet in the sky gets even brighter than usual this month, February 2022. The planet Venus reaches its greatest brilliance for the entire year this month. Look for Venus very low in the southeast at the start of morning twilight. […]

Header Image: Jupiter and two of its Moons, Io and Ganymede The Earth’s closest point to the Sun for the year and a major meteor shower are highlights for this month, January 2022. Perihelion, or the point in Earth’s orbit when it’s closest to the Sun, occurs at 12:52 am CST the morning of January […]

Header Image: The outside of the Adler Planetarium at night with the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn brightly lit in the background. Image Credit: Mike Smail If skies are clear, we’ll get a chance to see all the planets visible to the unaided eye—and, just maybe, a comet—this month, December 2021. Comet Leonard, discovered in January […]

Header Image: Total lunar eclipse seen in the United States on April 15th, 2014 in San Jose, California. Image Credit: NASA Ames Research Center/Brian Day Thanks to a lunar eclipse, you can watch the full Moon fade away and reappear within the space of a few hours this month, November 2021. The eclipse occurs in […]

Header Image: The full Moon appearing right above the Willis Tower in Chicago. Image Credit: Nick Lake The brightest planet in the night sky gets a little brighter every night this month, October 2021. Venus is the brightest planet, and this month it’s easily spotted low in the southwest shortly after sunset. Though it’s bright, […]

Header Image: A person observing through a telescope in July 2021 at the ‘Scopes at the Adler small-group experience inside the Adler Planetarium’s Doane Observatory. I was in graduate school, working on a writing project about vision and light and the brain, when I looked through a real telescope for the first time.   The year […]

Header Image: Adler Planetarium graphic depicting the fall celestial event, Chicagohenge. If you like dark-sky viewing, you’ll get more opportunities for it this September 2021 as Earth’s Northern Hemisphere approaches an equinox. The autumnal equinox, marking the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere, falls on the 22nd, at 2:21 p.m. CDT. On the autumnal equinox […]