The Adler ‘Scope

The Adler Planetarium’s Doane Observatory has had a bumpy right over the last 12 months. But it’s finally back in working condition. Learn about its journey to recovery!

Though Spring has begun in the Northern Hemisphere, some of the night sky’s brightest stars—usually associated with wintertime—can still be seen this month, April 2019. Look to the southwest during evening twilight, to see a rhombus-shaped pattern of bright stars—like a long, thin, horizontally-stretched-out square in the sky. The top point of the rhombus is […]

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 […]

The story of Maude Bennot—at least, the part of it that concerns the Adler Planetarium—doesn’t have a great ending. This is just a heads-up: You won’t like what happens. But if you love science and community and the place the Adler is today, you will like Maude Bennot. You’ll like her so much that you’ll […]

When was the last time you saw more than five stars in the night sky? More than ten? Twenty? How about the Milky Way? Ever looked up a vast, hazy band of light that trails from one end of the night sky to the other and felt as though the heavens were reaching down toward […]

Header Image: SUE in the brand-new exhibit at the Field Museum with the night sky display in the background When Chicago icon SUE the T. rex had a new exhibit designed, our very own Nick Lake used his expertise and Adler’s technology to map what a Cretaceous sky might have looked like in SUE’s time. […]

“Chicago’s Black Women in STEAM” is a new 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. Sydney ChatmanTheater Educator at […]

Hello again! Welcome to the second installment of our AstroFan series! This month’s topic focuses on Synestia, a molten HOT new theory regarding the origins of our Moon. If you’re like me and love action-packed collisions, then buckle up and enjoy this trip back in time to proto-Earth! A few weeks ago a colleague and […]

Meredith Stepien Experience Developer Experience Developer—that’s a pretty fun title! Can you tell us about your role and what you do here at the Adler? I’m a creative developer in the Adler’s Guest Experience department! I design experiences through programming and exhibitions. March is Women’s History Month. Who are some of the women who have been […]

The following is a webcomic created by Adler Visiting Researcher, Reheynah (Rey) Maktoufi! In this comic, you’ll meet Defiance, a payload box, who is about to journey to the edge of space with the Adler’s Far Horizons‘ team! In loving memory of Poppy Defiance remembers Poppy earlier that day in Stratosphere: