The Adler ‘Scope

Editor’s Note: Updated in May 2023 to reflect more current and updated information. Wes Lethem Former Theater Technician Hi Wes! Tell us a little bit about yourself. Working on the Museum Campus and specifically here at the Adler is a childhood dream come true, only it’s better than I ever could have imagined. As a […]

Arguably, one of the most well-known fixtures of our night sky is the Big Dipper. But did you know that this night-sky staple once served as a beacon to freedom here in America during the time of the Underground Railroad? In the early-to-mid 19th century, countless American slaves used the Big Dipper⁠—aka the Drinking Gourd⁠—as […]

Header Image: Benjamin Banneker’s almanac for the year 1795 being digitally scanned for preservation. BENJAMIN BANNEKER’S 1795 ALMANAC Way before we had smartphones, almanacs were an important source of practical information and amusement for many people. African-American astronomer and mathematician Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), produced several almanacs, which were published over a period of six consecutive […]

It’s been a year since the launch of The Adler ’Scope blog’s Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM series, and we couldn’t be more proud of how much it has grown. Whether it was a food scientist at PepsiCo creating the newest flavors for Gatorade, an astrochemist simulating the atmospheres of far away worlds, or an […]

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 […]

Erin Wilson Senior Director of Marketing Hi Erin! Give us a little background info about yourself! Career advertising lady and proud Adlerite for the past five years. Mom to three littles and a pooch. Ex-collegiate athlete who seeks competition wherever I can find it. I bleed maize and blue. What do you enjoy most about […]

Header Caption: This Hubble Deep Field image shows a snapshot of the diverse types of galaxies in our universe. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/STScI Hubble Deep Field Team Did you know that up until the last century, humans believed that our Milky Way was the only galaxy in the known universe? Today, we now know that this […]

Live what you love. It’s advice that we all should be heeding more often, but it’s something that I am lucky enough to do here at the Adler each and every day. For the past two and a half years, I’ve been proud to help lead the charge as we’ve worked collectively to define who […]

Header Image: Frederick J. Brown, ‘Milky Way’, 1977, oil on canvas, 221 x 299.8 cm (Adler Planetarium collections). Frederick J. Brown was a New York City and Arizona-based American artist. He was born in Georgia and raised in the South Side of Chicago. Brown’s work was informed by his African-American and Native American ancestry, as […]

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered if a particularly bright star was actually a planet? It can be tricky business, but with some helpful tools to equip you, you’ll be identifying planets in no time! Follow this guide to figure out if what you’re looking at is a planet or […]