The evening of March 13, 1781, William Herschel was observing the sky with a fine 7-foot refracting telescope he’d made by himself, from the backyard of his home in Bath, England. At that time, Herschel was earning his bread as a musician, but he had been developing a strong interest in astronomy, sacrificing many of […]

The longest days and shortest nights of the year—for Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, anyway—take place this month, June 2019. The first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere occurs on the solstice, at 10:54 am CDT on the 21st. It’s the longest day of the year, with the Sun rising very early and setting very late. […]

Header Image Photo Credit: Mark Subbarao, Dinoj Surendran, and Randy Landsberg Hello! Welcome to our 4th AstroFan! The past few features have dealt with some of the coolest objects in space (neutron stars, our Moon, exoplanets, etc)—this feature of AstroFan is going to switch things up and focus on the actual SPACE around these objects, […]

By Jesus Garcia (Electronics Design System Engineer and Educator) and Dr. Geza Gyuk (Astronomer). On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the Adler sent its first mission to space! This ambitious project was a collaboration between students, scientists, and volunteers from around Chicagoland. Last spring, students from the ITW David Speer Academy, a public four-year charter high […]

It’s Astronomy Day! On such a day we could seize the opportunity to talk about what it feels like to look up through a telescope or how our collections experts preserve centuries-old astrolabes or the latest updates on our Adler teen-led underwater meteorite hunt… but as I watch the people around me do what they […]

The following is a webcomic created by Adler Visiting Researcher, Reheynah (Rey) Maktoufi! In this comic, learn about the recent black hole picture that was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope team. Special thanks to Dr. Geza Gyuk, Michelle Nichols, Dr. Grace Wolf-Chase, Steve Burkland, and Orilla Fetro. Header Image: Scientists have obtained the first […]

Featured image: our beautiful Earth taken from the edge of space by our very own Far Horizons team & Adler Teens! As an astronomer who researches planets around other stars as well as the planets in our Solar System, I often get asked: “What’s your favorite planet?” I think many people expect that I’ll name […]

Header Image Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech It is only a few short weeks until my favorite holiday, May the 4th! A time for Star Wars fans to embrace the lore and celebrate the rich world created by George Lucas. In honor of this joyous occasion, I thought that it would be apropos for this AstroFan to […]

Black Holes are incredible beasts… Nothing can escape from them and yet they power quasars—the brightest beacons in the Universe. They warp space, bending light, and slow time to a stopping point. In their hearts lurks a singularity where the laws of physics break down. But they are shrouded in mystery. We have lots of […]

Header Image: Grace Wolf-Chase giving a lecture at McCormick Theological Seminary, February 2019. Photo Credit: Tricia Koning Photography It’s a Thursday night in February and I am seated in a classroom at McCormick Theological Seminary in Hyde Park, waiting for a science lecture to begin. At this moment in history, when so much of our […]