The Adler ‘Scope

Header Image: Jupiter and two of its Moons, Io and Ganymede The Earth’s closest point to the Sun for the year and a major meteor shower are highlights for this month, January 2022. Perihelion, or the point in Earth’s orbit when it’s closest to the Sun, occurs at 12:52 am CST the morning of January […]

Header Image: The outside of the Adler Planetarium at night with the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn brightly lit in the background. Image Credit: Mike Smail If skies are clear, we’ll get a chance to see all the planets visible to the unaided eye—and, just maybe, a comet—this month, December 2021. Comet Leonard, discovered in January […]

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 Thanks to a lunar eclipse, you can watch the full Moon fade away and reappear within the space of a few hours this month, November 2021. The eclipse occurs in […]

Header Image: The full Moon appearing right above the Willis Tower in Chicago. Image Credit: Nick Lake The brightest planet in the night sky gets a little brighter every night this month, October 2021. Venus is the brightest planet, and this month it’s easily spotted low in the southwest shortly after sunset. Though it’s bright, […]

Header Image: A person observing through a telescope in July 2021 at the ‘Scopes at the Adler small-group experience inside the Adler Planetarium’s Doane Observatory. I was in graduate school, working on a writing project about vision and light and the brain, when I looked through a real telescope for the first time.   The year […]

Header Image: Adler Planetarium graphic depicting the fall celestial event, Chicagohenge. If you like dark-sky viewing, you’ll get more opportunities for it this September 2021 as Earth’s Northern Hemisphere approaches an equinox. The autumnal equinox, marking the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere, falls on the 22nd, at 2:21 p.m. CDT. On the autumnal equinox […]

Header Image: Snapshot of the annual Perseids Meteor Shower in 2016 from West Virginia. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Of the three major meteor showers that occur each year, only one takes place when the weather is reliably warm. The Perseid meteor shower is a highlight of this month, August 2021! The Perseids peak around the […]

Header Image: Galaxy cheesecake slices cut up and being served. What’s cooler than a regular cheesecake? A galaxy cheesecake! Celebrate National Cheesecake Day every day with a delectable dessert that is truly out-of-this-world. Galaxy Cheesecake Recipe Ingredients: Cheesecake 72oz soft cream cheese 1 1/4 cups sugar 1.2 tsp salt 4 eggs 3 tbsp lemon juice […]

Header Image: Artist Concept of the Kepler Space Telescope operating during a new mission to find planets. Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle 2021 marks the 450th anniversary of the birthday of one of the most noted astronomers in history, Johannes Kepler. Kepler was a German astronomer who started his career as a mathematics teacher before working […]

Header Image: The Moon surface as seen via the Adler’s Doane Observatory in April 2017. It may be the warmest time of the year for the Northern Hemisphere, but the Earth actually is at its furthest point away from the Sun this month, July 2021. Aphelion—the annual point in Earth’s orbit when it’s furthest from […]