In celebration of its 50th anniversary, NASA is partnering with science centers, universities and museums across the country and will hold its final event in Chicago on Friday, October 10 at the Adler Planetarium. Come to America's First Planetarium to celebrate 50 years of discovery and learn about NASA's plans for the next era of exploration! This special day will feature NASA's 50th Anniversary Exhibition, floor activities and an astronaut meet and greet.

NASA's 50th Anniversary Exhibition captures the Past, Present and Future of NASA. The exhibition focuses on Exploration, Science, Aeronautics and Human Space Flight. Interactive elements include building your own rocket to send to the Moon using rocket components from NASA's Constellation Program, the program that will return humans to the Moon by 2020, and taking a picture of yourself in a Space Suit on the International Space Station, Moon or Mars. NASA staff will be on-site to help facilitate the exhibition and answer your questions.

NASA's 50th Anniversary Exhibition will run from October 8 - 13.

Celebrate the opening weekend of One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure with your friends from Sesame Street! Take a tour of the night sky with Big Bird, Elmo and their friend from China, Hu Hu Zhu and then enjoy Night and Day-themed families activities (All activities included with paid admission.)

And, don't miss your chance to meet walkaround Elmo from Sesame Street! Walkaround Elmo from Sesame Street will appear at the Adler. Appearances are limited, so arrive early for the best opportunity.

2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.

10:15 - 10:45 a.m.
11:15 - 11:45 a.m.
12:15 - 12:45 p.m.

For more information, call (312) 922 STAR

Members are welcome to this FREE event, featuring hands-on activities, behind-the-scenes tours, cross-cultural performances, and a chance to meet walkaround Elmo from Sesame Street! Also, on this night only, members can preview The Journey to Palomar, a new documentary tracing George Ellery Hale's epic quest to build the biggest telescopes in the world.

All members are welcome, but activities will be best suited for ages 7 and up.

Visit the Membership page for more information and registration.

Out littlest members are invited to this special morning party featuring hands-on educational activities and member-only viewings of One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure. Don't forget to have your picture taken with walkaround Elmo from Sesame Street!

All members are welcome, but activities will be best suited for ages 2-6.

Visit the Membership page for more information and registration.

As part of Far Out Friday, Smithsonian historian Michael J. Neufeld will present a talk on his new book Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War, a candid look at Wernher von Braun, father of the U.S. rocketry program.

Visit the Far Out Friday page on Lecture Series for more information.

11th annual Roderick S. Webster Memorial Lecture held at the Adler Planetarium. The lecture was created in 1998 and is hosted each year in memory of Roderick Webster, former Adler Curator and Chairman of the Board. Roderick Webster along with his wife Marjorie Webster, volunteered forty years of dedicated service to developing the Adler's Collection, making it one of the world's greatest science collections as well as a rich resource for scholars and museums. The Webster Lecture is sponsored in part by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).

The AIA serves the non-specialist public in two principal ways: through its magazines Archaeology and Dig, and through the lecture program. Each academic year between September and May, Institute headquarters in Boston sends three professional archaeologists to lecture to each of its local societies. Because the local societies are composed of members of the general public as well as professional archaeologists, the lecture program provides a unique opportunity for interested non-professionals to meet practicing archaeologists and to learn of new discoveries.

AIA lectures are free and bring news of the latest archaeological discoveries to the public. AIA local societies, located throughout the United States and Canada, integrate the lectures provided to them by Institute headquarters with locally sponsored lectures and events.

The mystery of time has captivated science journalist Dan Falk, who sets off on an intellectual journey in his latest St. Martin's Press book, In Search of Time: The Science of a Curious Dimension. In this illustrated talk, Dan will discuss some of the most intriguing aspects of time: how our ancestors first learned to measure it; how we suspect it — and the universe — began, and what the "end of time" may hold for us; and a brief look at the physics of time travel and the paradoxes it seems to entail.

Visit the Far Out Friday page on Lecture Series for more information.

This is your chance to witness the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century! Join Adler President Paul H. Knappenberger Jr., PhD to experience this rare celestial event from Anji in southern China. We will start in Beijing, touring the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Temple of Heaven before journeying to Xian for its famed terracotta warriors. From Xian, we will stop at Hangzhou's West Lake and prepare for the solar eclipse adventure. We complete our journey in Shanghai, with exciting options to extend your trip. Dr. Knappenberger will guide you through China's rich history and relationship to the sky.

Visit the Adler Travel page for more information.

The story of the Hubble Space Telescope is a story of many near deaths and amazing saves. Repeatedly, politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, and even astronomers made passionate efforts to stop its construction or terminate its use. Repeatedly, these efforts failed, as even those who opposed the telescope found that they could not resist its allure. The compelling nature of the unknown that the telescope promised to unveil won out each time, beating back every form of opposition or skepticism while simultaneously compelling the telescope's supporters to make sacrifices surprising even to themselves.

Visit the Far Out Friday page on Lecture Series for more information.

Everything you know about the Galileo affair is wrong. But the truth doesn't make anyone look any better!

Recent research ties the Galileo trial of 1632 to the politics of the 30 Years War, while the four centuries of conflict over Galileo following that trial have shaped the public conception of what astronomy is, and how it is done. We will examine the politics and the science that fed into the Galileo controversy; the response of scientists and educators in the hundred years following his trial; and what present day conceptions about Galileo have done to our modern understanding of science and its role in society.

Visit the Far Out Friday page on Lecture Series for more information.

Ten percent of the Adler Planetarium's electrical power is now green. We have signed a three year partnership with Community Energy to supply us with clean, renewable wind energy. Ten percent of our power is roughly equivalent to the electricity we use in both of our theaters.

Where are the wind turbines and how does this work? The wind energy that is generated in our name is placed on the national electrical distribution grid reducing the amount of fuel based energy needed.

To learn more about Community Energy, surf over to www.communityenergy.biz.