Header image: A composite of eleven pictures showing the progression of a total solar eclipse. [ Image credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani), edited by the Adler Planetarium ] An entire day is dedicated to celebrating the planet we know best this month, April 2023. Don’t forget to celebrate Earth Day on April 22; and while you’re at […]

Header Image: The 2013 spring equinox, as seen from space. Image Credit: Nasa/ Earth Observer, edited by the Adler Planetarium Possibly the most photogenic planetary pairing of the year kicks-off this month, March 2023. Here’s your stargazing guide to view the Venus-Jupiter Conjunction, the spring equinox and other celestial events.  Venus and Jupiter Conjunction Just […]

Header image: The bright planets, Venus and Jupiter, are close in the sky, nearby a bright Moon. Image taken on June 30, 2015. Composite image credit and copyright: Wang, Letian The two brightest planets and a once-in-a-lifetime comet are among the sky highlights of the shortest month of the year, February 2023. Here’s your stargazing […]

Header Image: Adler Planetarium 24″ reflecting telescope in the Doane Observatory after installation in 2020. Did you know the Doane Observatory is home to the largest publicly accessible telescope in Chicago? Since opening in 1977, the observatory in Chicago has had several telescopes within its walls, and these telescopes have given Chicagoans the opportunity to […]

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: Eclipse of the Sun illustration from the Adler Planetarium’s Collections Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in April 2021 and was updated in April 2022 with more current information. There are several topics in astronomy that get lots of people excited: naked-eye visible comets, bright planets, auroras…but eclipses are generally at the […]

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 A good chance to glimpse a hard-to-see planet, a lunar eclipse during Moonset, and the closest Supermoon of the year occur this month, May 2021. Planets To Spot This May […]

Header Image: The Jupiter-Saturn Great Conjunction happening in December 2020 can be viewed when lookin southwest after local sunset. In astronomy, we often tie a time period to something. “It’s been 50 years since this one thing happened,” or “it’s been 3 years since we saw this other event in the sky.” Every once in […]

Header Image: Jupiter and two of its Moons, Io and Ganymede. Image Credit: NASA/Damian Peach To end this unprecedented year, we’ll all get to celebrate beneath a “Great Conjunction” in December 2020. For the past six months, the brilliant planet Jupiter and the dimmer (but still bright) planet Saturn have appeared several degrees away from […]

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 Many of us lost an hour earlier this year, but we get back that hour this month, November 2020! Most of the United States uses Daylight Saving time, which starts […]