The Adler ‘Scope

Header Image: Slipping into shadow, the south polar vortex at Saturn’s moon Titan still stands out against the orange and blue haze layers that are characteristic of Titan’s atmosphere. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute On the morning of June 27, 2019, NASA announced that a mission called Dragonfly—which will send a drone to explore Saturn’s […]

A decade ago, Spencer Gore was a teen intern at the Adler, where he spent summer days designing a stabilization system for the cameras that fly on Far Horizons flights. On the long bus rides back to Union Station, he would dream up fantastical feats of engineering with Adler astronomer Geza Gyuk. Could you control […]

Header Image Caption: An artist’s rendition of Enceladus, Saturn’s 6th largest moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech This past weekend, the Adler Planetarium celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11⁠—a mission that brought us to a whole new world, our Moon.  It’s pretty undeniable that our Moon is spectacular. It’s our only natural satellite, it’s composed of […]

Imagine you are called into a meeting about a job. The job is completely different from any job you’ve ever had. It’s not an anxiety dream—this is really happening!—so you do what any responsible, awake person would do: You tell the other people in the meeting you have no idea how to do this job. […]

Dr. Andrew Johnston Vice President of Astronomy and Collections As someone who has worked in museums for the past 30 years (WOW!), what has been the most rewarding experience for you? I began working in science museums when I was a teenager, so I feel very lucky to have been working in this business all […]

“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. Miona ShortAstrophysics, B.S.Research Assistant at […]

Header Image: This is probably the first Moon rock picked up by Neil Armstrong as part of the “contingency sample.” Because the collection was so hurried and the documentation sparse, NASA scientists are not completely sure of the identification. Credit: NASA The Apollo missions sent humans to the Moon 50 years ago. Getting there required […]

In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced a seemingly impossible goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. “We choose to go to the Moon,” he declared. Eight years later the unthinkable would be proven possible. On July 20, 1969, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission would touch down on […]

In September 2016, we—the Adler’s ’Scopes in the City team—brought a telescope to the Wrightwood-Ashburn library branch on Chicago’s southwest side and set it up in front of the library. This branch has a beautifully clear view of the sky with no tall buildings in the way. A teen involved in other library programs came […]

Header Image: Moon surface taken by the Adler’s Doane Observatory on April 7, 2017. The nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission this month, July 2019. It was 50 years ago on July 20 when humans first set foot on Earth’s natural satellite. It’s a big month for the Moon astronomically as well. This […]