Exhibits

Astronomy in Culture

Think your phone alarm is harsh? Come see a device that once fired a cannon to let you know it’s lunchtime. Stargazers of ages past in Ancient Greece, the Middle...

Chasing Eclipses

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in the shadow of the Moon? As the Moon blots out the Sun, turning day into night, you will...

Chicago’s Night Sky

In a dark sky, you can see about 4,500 stars with the naked eye. In Chicago’s sky, you can see about 35. As long as people have walked the Earth,...

Clark Family Welcome Gallery

Lighting the way to out-of-this-world adventures. The Clark Family Welcome Gallery at the Adler Planetarium kicks off your journey to the stars. Created using approximately 13,000 linear feet of aluminum...

Community Design Labs

Curiosity, connections, and exploration await! The Adler Planetarium’s Community Design Labs are flexible spaces for visitors to imagine, discover, and have fun together. Whether creating your own artwork in Star...

Doane Observatory

The Adler Planetarium’s Doane Observatory is pretty special. It is home to the largest telescope available to the public in the Chicagoland area! That means that guests get to see...

Historic Atwood Sphere

What you will discover Experience the night sky over Chicago as it appeared in 1913 in the Atwood Sphere—Chicago’s oldest planetarium. Although the star positions have not changed since then,...

Mission Moon

Launch a stomp rocket, race against the clock to save the crew of Apollo 13, look inside the Gemini 12 spacecraft, and take a very personal journey into space with...

Our Solar System

Our meteorite traveled millions of miles to get here. The least you can do is come touch it. That meteorite, which crashed into Earth and left a huge crater in...

Planet Explorers

Blast off to Planet X with your littlest explorers! Families with children ages 3–8 to take the helm in this modern-day space adventure. Junior space explorers will enter a world...

Space Visualization Lab

In this working laboratory scientists, technology experts, artists, and educators work together to create new ways for people to virtually explore the universe. Since its inauguration in 2007, the SVL...

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass

Meet Chicago's legendary Dearborn refractor, take a look through a 17th-century instrument, and learn how telescopes transformed our understanding of the universe Astronomers have studied the sky for thousands of...

The Universe: A Walk Through Space and Time

Transport yourself to the distant corners of the cosmos and witness how the universe has evolved over 13.7 billion years, from the big bang to this morning’s sunrise. Follow the...