Tag: telescopes
Astro Road Trip Brings Adler Planetarium Telescope Programming To Towns Across Southern Illinois Ahead Of The Total Solar Eclipse
Astro Road Trip brings telescope programming to communities across Southern Illinois in preparation for the April 8, 2024!
In The Right Light, Space Doesn’t Seem So Big
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 […]
Meet Scientists From The Kepler Space Telescope Mission
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 […]
Stargazing Resources: A Few Good Books
Header Image: An attendee looking through a telescope during a ‘Scopes In The City neighborhood event with the Adler Planetarium in 2018. Hi there! I’m Michelle Nichols the Director of Public Observing and an astronomy educator at the Adler Planetarium. Are you a sky observing beginner and want some recommendations on how to get started? […]
Choosing A Telescope
Header Image: Looking through a telescope at the Adler Planetarium. Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in August 2020 and was updated in August 2024 with more current information. One question we often get at the Adler is: “I’m a beginner. What’s the best telescope for me?” The really short answer is, “The best […]
A Conveyance to This Other World
LUNAR MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS In November 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) set out to study the Moon using a recent invention he had heard about a few months prior, and had been playing with ever since: the telescope. According to the principles of Aristotelian cosmology, which still prevailed at the time, the celestial bodies (including the […]
Chicago: A City of Stargazers
Chicago has long been a city of stargazers. And one way or another, all astronomical roads in Chicago have led to the Adler since it became the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere in 1930. Here are a few stories, objects, and documents from our collections that remind us how the Adler has helped Chicagoans […]
