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Adler Planetarium

Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Adler Planetarium is one of the three museums in Chicago's museum campus (along with The Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium). It contains a number of fun displays and exhibits about space, stars, and other planets, and other celestial events.

The Atwood Sphere

The quality of the displays and exhibits is generally quite good, although they are occasionally lacking information. There are a number of interactive exhibits for kids, and adults should find things interesting as well.

Pictured here is the Atwood Sphere - a very early version of a planetarium. The sphere has holes punched in it. To view this attraction, visitors are taken inside in groups of six. When inside the sphere, the holes punctured in the sphere allow light to enter. The points of light look like stars in a planetarium. The entire sphere then rotates, simulating the moving night sky. A guide is present on the inside of the sphere, and a narrative explains a bit about the history of the sphere, and tells you what to look for.

A view of the museum campus and Chicago skyline from the steps of the Adler Planetarium

The Adler Planetarium is situated on a piece of land set back from downtown Chicago, and provides the best view of all attractions on Chicago's museum campus. The view from the outside of the planetarium is excellent - you have a great view of the Chicago skyline.

If you get the chance, it is worthwhile to walk around the outside of the planetarium. It is not a long walk - probably about 500m. The walkway around the planetarium is along Lake Michigan, and contains a number of nice flowers, trees, and monuments.

It is also worth noting that Galileo's Cafe, which is the restaurant in the Adler Planetarium, is excellent. In addition to having higher quality food than you would typically expect from such an attraction, the view from the seating area is excellent. View the review for Galileo's Cafe to see a sample of the excellent view.

StarRider Theater - Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity

One of the monuments around the Adler Planetarium

The StarRider Theater is very similar to Omnimax, although some technical details make it slightly different. This particular show was about black holes. The show presented a bit of interesting information about black holes, but in general was lacking any interesting facts. The movie engaged in speculation, and occasionally presented things that were factually misleading. In spite of that, the movie was interesting, and it was an enjoyable use of 30 minutes.

Sky Theater - Night Sky Live

The Night Sky Live show takes place in the Sky Theater - the dome that's visible from the outside of the Adler Planetarium. There is a presenter that talks about the night sky as visible from Chicago, and discusses different constellations and other celestial phenomenon. This show lasts about 40 minutes, and the presenter that we had was quite good. He answered questions at the end, and was informative in his presentation.

Cost

The cost of admission is $10. You can add one or two additional shows for a total of $19 or $23. You can also purchase the Chicago CityPass, and this may result in cost savings if there are multiple attractions that you are hoping to see in Chicago. There is metered street parking available outside the planetarium - it's only $0.50 per hour, which is quite a bit cheaper than other parking in the area. There isn't very much though, so it fills up quickly.

Estimated Visiting Time

The planetarium is not huge - the exhibits take about 2.5 hours to look at. If you want to see any of the shows, be sure to leave extra time for that!