The Adler ‘Scope

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 August 2023 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: A person looking through the Doane Observatory telescope at the Adler Planetarium. Written By: Former Digital Collections Access Manager Jessica BrodeFrank and Co-Director of Zooniverse, DH Lead. Dr. Samantha Blickhan Have you ever attempted to search the internet for a specific thing, but found that no matter what you typed in the search […]

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 […]

Traditionally April’s Full Moon has been called the “Pink Moon,” for the flowers that begin to bloom in the warmer weather. However, some people will be calling it a “Supermoon” this month, April 2021. The Moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t a perfect circle; sometimes the Moon is further away from Earth, sometimes it’s closer. […]

Did you know that anyone (that means YOU) can become a citizen scientist? If you’re reading this, you already have everything you need to contribute to real research projects—and maybe even discover something no one knew they were looking for! April is Citizen Science Month, and you can celebrate by joining the millions of Adler […]

Header Image: Chicagohenge Image Credit: @cdats It’s the month named for the god of war, Mars; and the planet Mars is a great focus for the month of March 2021. Last month, NASA’s Perseverance Rover successfully landed on the planet Mars. It joined the still-operating Curiosity Rover already on the Martian surface. Perseverance allows NASA […]

Header Image: Illustration of Mars Perseverance landing on the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Blog Last Updated: March 2022 Humans have been fascinated by the fourth planet from the Sun for centuries. At one point, there were some astronomers who were absolutely convinced that canals—created by alien life—stretched across its surface. One thing is for sure: […]

Header Image: Adler Teen’s who were a part of the Aquarius Project used this underwater sled to search for meteorite fragments. This teen-led underwater meteorite hunt is the podcast you need right now First: The elevator pitch. A meteor crashes into Lake Michigan. An actor who works at the planetarium on the lakeshore assembles a […]

Header Image: Mars can be seen here during its opposition in October 2020. Image Credit: Astrophotographer Nick Lake Is that bright “star” in the sky really a star, or could it be a planet?  There’s plenty of both to look for this month, February 2021! Shortly after sunset, look high in the south-southwest skies to […]

Header Image: Night photography set up with Comet NEOWISE in the background, taken in July 2020. Image Credit: Nick Lake It’s the beginning of 2021, stargazers! Earth is in the “just-right” zone for life to form—it orbits not too far from the Sun, and not too close. However, Earth’s distance from the Sun varies slightly […]