Header Image: The Sun sets during Chicagohenge as a CTA train in Chicago, Illinois travels towards it. Image Credit: @cdats It’s a great month for planet viewing and observing the Earth-and-sky occurrence known as “Chicagohenge”, in September 2020. Start your planet viewing during evening twilight by looking low in the southern skies to see the […]

Header Image: In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower Friday, Aug. 12, 2016 in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Hello stargazers! One of the best annual meteor showers of the year occurs this month, August 2020. The Perseid meteor shower is expected […]

This month will be a little longer than usual, but still shorter than most months of the calendar — because it’s February 2020. This year is a Leap Year, when the short month of February has 29 days instead of the usual 28. Earth’s actual orbit around the Sun takes about one-quarter of a day […]

Happy New Year! Though you likely won’t be able to tell the difference, Earth is at its closest to the Sun for the year this month, January 2020. Perihelion, the point in Earth’s annual orbit where it’s closest to the Sun, occurs each year in early January. This year, perihelion occurs at 1:48 a.m. Chicago time on […]

Header Image: Lauren Asta (left) and Shawn Smith (right) pose with their completed “Moonshot Murals” painted by Adler guests during Moon Bash on July 20, 2019 Brushes were poised and the smell of spray paint began to permeate the air. The sound of the small metal ball inside the aerosol can rattled around as the […]

One of the year’s most popular meteor showers regularly peaks this month, August 2019. Unfortunately, this year’s shower may be only a wash.  The Perseid meteor shower is well known because it’s a major annual shower that occurs during warm weather in the northern hemisphere. The Perseids usually peak around the night of the 12th […]

In September 2016, we—the Adler’s ’Scopes in the City team—brought a telescope to the Wrightwood-Ashburn library branch on Chicago’s southwest side and set it up in front of the library. This branch has a beautifully clear view of the sky with no tall buildings in the way. A teen involved in other library programs came […]

From moon phases to meteor showers, the Adler Planetarium has got you covered when it comes to knowing what to look for in the sky. Read our list below to get started! At all times, half of our Moon is lit by the Sun, just as half of the Earth is always lit by the […]

Did you get to see the lunar eclipse this past January right before sunrise? It was tough to see. The Moon was low in the west, and we didn’t get to view the entire eclipse because the Moon set before the eclipse finished. Folks out in the western U.S. got a much better chance to […]