This is a collection of Chicago's baby photos. See the Adler Planetarium, Navy Pier, the Northern Trust Bank Building, Harper Library, the Mandel Brothers Store and the LaSalle Hotel, then and now. more ›

The powerful alderman doesn't think the Park District should simply vote on the Adler Planetarium's proposed admission fee hikes without a public hearing. The irony is rich, isn't it? more ›

Maybe it's inflation, maybe it's budget cuts. But Adler Planetarium is planning to boost general admission fees by $2 across the board, pending approval from the Chicago Park District. more ›

On Thursday, Adler Planetarium announced plans for a new lakefront glass pavilion that they intend to build if they are able to acquire one of the soon-to-be-retired space shuttles. Adler is just one of 20 museums that are currently bidding on Endeavour and Atlantis, the two shuttles that are up for grabs. NASA will reveal which two museums will get each shuttle on April 12, a day that marks the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight. Discovery--the oldest shuttle--was already promised by NASA to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. more ›

As we told you earlier, the Adler Planetarium is moving the stargazing out to Wheaton this evening, but you'll see more of the universe indoors at Adler's Sky Theater, with projections of stars accompanying a performance of Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" by the Fifth House Ensemble. more ›

Tonight is the peak for the annual Perseid meteor shower so if you haven't gotten a chance to step outside the city and take it all in, tonight's the night to do it. The Adler Planetarium is hitting the road for Wheaton where the city lights won't outshine the meteors and you can actually see the streaks across the sky at their Perseid viewing party. Telescopes will be available for viewing the meteors, there will be plenty of science dropped by a few Adler lecturers, and there will even be excerpts from One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure in Adler's portable planetarium dome. The only catch? You just have to get out to Cantigny Park in Wheaton. more ›

With NASA about to retire three space shuttles from its fleet - Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour - the task of what happens to them next has come up. One possibility includes one of those shuttles winding up on Chicago's Lakefront as part of a new exhibit at the Adler Planetarium. According to the Adler's president, Paul Knappenberger, the planetarium is on a list of 21 museums that are competing to receive one of the shuttles once they're officially decommissioned. Atlantis is on its final flight now while Discovery finishes up in September and Endeavour in November (though the Discovery shuttle has been promised to the Smithsonian). more ›

The space geeks among us at the Chicagoist offices are eager to head over to the Adler Planetarium to check out a new mosaic image of the Milky Way, being unveiled today. We've all seen pictures of our galaxy before, but not like this -- the image is made up of 800,000 individual pictures stitched together, and is comprised of 2.5 billion pixels. Measuring 4 feet high and 180 feet long, it's the most detailed picture of our galaxy in existence, and it is now permanently on display in the lower level of the Adler outside the Definiti Space Theater. more ›

The fact that today marks the anniversary of Apollo 11's liftoff might not have anything to do with Chicago specifically, but the Adler Planetarium will be celebrating the mission and its successful landing on the Moon with a number of events in the next few days. If you're a space dork like a number of Chicagoistas (and if you were watching the shuttle launch on the web yesterday, you know who you are) you might want to check some of these out. more ›

After all this fuss about the Adler earmark, we've stumbled upon the the perfect solution: a bath planetarium. "Bring the universe to the tub and relax!" And only $69.00 (plus shipping and handling)? Count us in. more ›

During last night's debate, our ears perked up when Sen. John McCain dropped this little nugget:

[Sen. Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?

Adler Planetarium, to support replacement of its projector and related equipment, $3,000,000 more ›

Chicagoist has had a bit of a love affair with Pritzker Pavilion this summer, but that’s mostly because the Millenium Park events calendar has been stuffed with so many fabulous free events this outdoor season. more ›

The moon doesn’t care about the frigid weather – it’s holding its event anyway. A total lunar eclipse will occur tonight and the Adler Planetarium is raising the roof (literally) for an al fresco celebration. The generous folks at this Chicago landmark are opening the Doane Observatory to the public for this special event so stargazing visitors can see the eclipse up close. Peer through one of the souped-up telescopes to enhance your viewing pleasure, assuming you can see past the icicles on your eyelashes. more ›

Busy day for local museums: the Field Museum is raising its admissions prices, and the Shedd Aquarium is looking to expand its office space. Adler Planetarium? Anything? No? Shedd officials say their 300 employees are cramped, thus an additional 24,000 square feet of workspace, plus "a ground level terrace on the north side of the structure, build another elevator and upgrade its food-service kitchen." The proposed addition apparently wouldn't really affect how the Oceanarium... more ›

October in Chicago makes us feel like kids again. This month, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events and the Park District have filled the calendar with Halloween-themed activities perfect for the toddler set and their kid-at-heart parents. Here are our favorites in the lead up to the big holiday. The park district (along with Walgreens) is sponsoring events to get you in the spirit at over forty different neighborhood parks from Bessemer to Oz throughout... more ›

Friday night, Chicagoist sat in the Kroc University Theater of the Adler Planetarium to hear Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" presentation given by someone with PhD style credibility, Dr. James Sweitzer. The majority of the presentation had the same slickness of Gore's documentary without the cut scenes of impending doom (though the excessive rumbling of traffic above the theater was slightly ominous). However, in lieu of soliloquies about being a boy on a farm,... more ›

We just wanted to make sure that everyone, far and wide, knew that it is Museum Campus Discount Week, and that means you can go to three of the city's finest cultural institutions F-R-E-E free. more ›

While the Bears prepare for tomorrow's big game in warm Miami fans in Chicago bundled up to go out and endure frigid single-digit temperatures with a -15 degree windchill to snap pictures of the city's Bear Pride. Chicagoist is pretty sure Colts fans were sitting inside their toasty homes watching reruns of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., while Chicagoans ventured out and enjoyed their beautiful city. more ›

With the second Body Worlds exhibit expected to attract the same droves of visitors to the Museum of Science and Industry as the first installment did, everybody seems to be noticing something — museums are cool. And because museums are cool, people brought attendance to them in Chicago up 6 percent from 2005 to 2006. more ›

Forty years after their historic four-day space mission, Capt. James Lovell and Dr. Buzz Aldrin were reunited with the Gemini 12 spacecraft at the Adler Planetarium. Lovell (above, right) remarked that the capsule looks more spacious than it actually is but that it's “a good bird.” Aldrin (left) asked his old friend in jest: “are you ready to fly again?” And they exchanged a look suggesting that's not such a crazy idea. During the... more ›

A new study has found that Chicago’s museums attract crowds that are disproportionately white, educated and affluent. In other breaking news, there may be some corruption issues in city government, and the Cubs aren’t exactly the winningest team in baseball. more ›

.. or at least they go less than they used to? Or something? Wait, what's going on here? 9 out of the 10 largest museums in the city saw a decline in visitors last year, but one had a huge leap. The Museum of Science & Industry saw a 34% increase in attendance. People must have really liked that video game exhibit they had last year! more ›

Last Friday, Chicagoist's favorite Mac blogger, DrunkenBatman hosted a conference for Mac developers and enthusiasts deep in the bowels of Adler Planetarium. He brought together ten panelists and over a hundred audience members for an evening of talking about the types of things Mac developers and enthusiasts can't get enough of. (How do you tell the difference between writing software as a hobby and a job? Will the Objective-C programming language last another decade? And so on.) more ›

Let’s say you’re releasing your first solo album (although many folks have accused your entire recorded output up until this point as basically being solo work.) Let’s say that this album is ostensibly a chance for you to distance yourself from your previous band. Let’s say that this band had a pretty popular signature sound and, after one attempt to follow that sound up with something similar exploded upon takeoff, you’ve decided to regroup, retool and release something largely unexpected. more ›

Tonight is the last total lunar eclipse until 2007. You'll be able to see it with the naked eye, but scientists say binoculars or low-grade telescopes will still enhance the experience. And unlike solar eclipses, it's safe to watch. Chicagoist thinks a romantic eclipse picnic is in order, drinking Blue Moon beers and eating moon pies and mooning people and listening to "Bad Moon Rising." We're big on themes. more ›

Wow. Chicago really loves Halloween.. really, really loves Halloween. We started looking into city-sponsored events that are happening to celebrate our 3rd favorite holiday (Christmas 1st, Thanksgiving 2nd) and were overwhelmed by the options. There's a crapload of events going on. We'll try to summarize them here, but if you want a complete list of happenings, download this PDF of a brochure put out by the Mayor's Office of Special Events. Best of all, most events are FREE! more ›