Editor Pick
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
- January 21, 2007
- Rated 4 of 5 by
callen60 from Ozarks, Missouri
Although I now reside in a rather modestly sized urban area, I spent 15 years living in the center of two of the nation’s largest metropolis. Nevertheless, it now surprises me just how big, big cities are. It happened again when we left the Field Museum and headed for Shedd Aquarium, which looks to next door on the hotel-room map of central Chicago. It was a few hundred yards, roughly equal in length to the line to get in. The wind was blowing now and it felt more like the wintry Chicago I remembered, so we quickly searched for a new destination that wouldn’t require standing still in icy lakefront breezes. "Well, the planetarium is just down the way..." I said. And we were off.
Brrrr. ‘Just down the way’ was more like half a mile. The fast walkers quickly surged ahead, sacrificing family togetherness for higher body core temperatures. To our left, the lake and the skyline suggested what a great springtime walk this would make, while punishing us with a wind that, frankly, was probably mild to natives.
Thankfully, there were no lines outside the Adler, and once inside, spending a lot of time here seemed like a good idea. Again, since admission was free, it was easier to spring for show tickets, this time to ‘TimeSpace’ in the digital Sky Rider Theatre. This was added in the recent renovation that expanded the Adler by enclosing the original twelve-sided structure, home to North America’s first planetarium.
In the south gallery, James Lovell’s personal effects and narration highlight "Shoot For the Moon," a new exhibition tracing the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. Lovell flew four of them, twice during Gemini, and twice again during Apollo. He had the privilege and misfortune of being part of the two most famous missions after Apollo 11’s initial moon landing: he captained Apollo 8’s lunar circumnavigation in December 1968, and helped his crewmates limp home in Apollo 13. My kids gawked at the tiny Gemini 12 capsule in which Lowell and Buzz Aldrin spent a week.
An adjoining gallery features each planet of the solar system, including scale models of the Sun and planets. One we didn’t reach focused on galaxies and the Milky Way. By then, it was time for our show.
I’m always excited about planetarium shows, but the new digital ones leave me disappointed. The gimmick in "TimeSpace" (narrated by a nap-inducing performance from Laurie Anderson) was time travel, leaping back to the big bang and forward to the Middle Ages and other eras. These digital shows seem to be videos presented on the dome, better suited to a traditional flat, rectangular screen. The images are dim, you’re leaning backwards in your chair, it’s dark… No wonder I can’t remember the other eras we popped in on. I’m confident that no one stayed awake for the whole thing, although several of us fought valiantly. Next time, I’ll visit Sky Theatre, the Adler’s original planetarium, where they simulate the actual stars (if that makes sense).
From journal Wintry Mix: First Time in the Second City