Header Image: Total lunar eclipse seen in Chicago.  Header Image Credit: Nick Lake  Eclipses don’t happen often. When they do, they come in pairs about two weeks apart. A partial solar eclipse on April 30 overshadows only a small portion of the Southern Hemisphere–but the eastern half of the U.S. gets the chance to see […]

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 If you love looking up at the Moon, you’re in for a stellar treat this May! On May 15, 2022, starting at 8:32 pm CT, the Flower Moon will begin […]

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: 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: 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: Astrophotography picture of the Moon. Image Credit: Nick Lake What, exactly, is a blue moon, and how rare is it? This question seems like it should have a straightforward answer, but as with all things related to language, it’s complicated. Absurd, Impossible, or Rare? The phrase blue moon has been around for several […]

Image Caption: The Andromeda Galaxy taken by an astrophotographer. Image Credit: Nick Lake From galactic paintings to space poetry, everyone’s favorite out-of-this-world muse—aka our universe—inspires all kinds of stellar works of art. Our staff came together and composed a few short poems all about aspects of space that inspire them. STAGES In my youth, I […]

Header Image: Apollo 13 crew returning home after their ocean landing. Image Credit: NASA This month marks the 50th anniversary of the harrowing Apollo 13 mission, which was dangerous and unprecedented. Today, our world faces a very different kind of crisis, but one that is equally unprecedented, with the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. […]

Header Image: Moon rising above the Adler Planetarium. Image Credit: Chris Smith In 2021, two supermoons will occur! But what is a supermoon exactly? And why is it so “super”? What Is a Supermoon? Supermoon is a nickname that describes a Full Moon that occurs within 10% of its closest approach (300,000 km) to Earth. […]