The Adler ‘Scope

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 […]

“Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM” is a series on The Adler ’Scope that highlights the awesome women of Chicago who are doing amazing things in science, technology, engineering, art, and math fields here in our own community. Meet women of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests and learn their unique stories. Andrea Bryant Physics Graduate Student […]

Happy New Year! Though you likely won’t be able to tell the difference, Earth is at its closest to the Sun for the year this month, January 2020. Perihelion, the point in Earth’s annual orbit where it’s closest to the Sun, occurs each year in early January. This year, perihelion occurs at 1:48 a.m. Chicago time on […]

Header Image: Total solar eclipse that occurred on August 21, 2017. Image Credit: NASA Out with the old and in with the new decade! As 2019 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on monumental astronomical discoveries and historic space events that happened over the last 10 years. We asked our stellar staff members to tell […]

Image Caption: An example of nebulae (and the interstellar medium) can be found in this picture of the Pleiades, an open cluster consisting of approximately 3,000 stars at a distance of 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, AURA/Caltech, Palomar Observatory Even the most novice of stargazers are […]

Jess Ray Decision Support Analyst What do you enjoy most about working at the Adler? Getting to partner with colleagues that have such diverse expertise to help them understand and use their data. Numbers can be scary to some people, but together we demystify the dataset and find the story hidden within. What is something […]

“Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM” is a series on The Adler ’Scope that highlights the awesome women of Chicago who are doing amazing things in science, technology, engineering, art, and math fields here in our own community. Meet women of varying ages, backgrounds, and interests and learn their unique stories. Brittany Towers Senior Scientist at […]

Header Image: The Adler Planetarium’s new exhibit, Chicago’s Night Sky, features a Far Horizons high altitude balloon and an image of the city of Chicago at night from above. When was the last time you took the time to notice your night sky? If you live in or near the City of Chicago—or any large […]

Header Image: Guests dressed up in costume at Adler After Dark: Go Boldy in 2016. If you’re even a little bit into sci-fi, then there’s a good chance you’ve watched, read, or consumed SOMETHING that references multiverses. In fact, multiverse theory has gained popularity as of late. From Marvel comics to Doctor Who to Rick and […]