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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Beyond infinity
Adler Planetarium takes visitors on tour of space

In the last 75 years, the Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr., has accrued two auditoriums and almost a dozen exhibits, providing visitors the chance to do some real stargazing and leap hundreds of light-years above Earth. And Race to the Edge of the Universe, a new show at the Adler, details the developments in space exploration in the last century.

The script for the show was a collaborative effort between several of the planetarium’s departments, using expert knowledge of history and science. The final script, written by Mark Webb, covers the United States’ space race against Russia, the development of the nuclear bomb and the search for life on other planets. The show illustrates the truly astonishing accomplishments of space exploration in one man’s lifetime.

The show points out that in the past, people assumed the black space between the stars was empty. But photographs taken by the Hubble Space telescope (unique in its position outside the atmosphere) changed that. Scientists pointed the Hubble at a patch of seemingly empty space the size of a pinhead to an observer on Earth. After a week of collecting light, the photographs revealed tens of thousands of galaxies, including hundreds of billions of stars, in the seemingly empty space.

The planetarium exhibits buzz with people of all ages from all parts of the world. Patrick Frendreis, a technician and sky show operator who has worked at the planetarium since 1988, explains that people with all levels of astronomical knowledge visit. “We get a small percentage of people who know things really well, better than us,” he says. “Most people who come through have just heard a lot of words thrown around in the news or on TV — pulsars, nebulae, black holes.”

“I occasionally get people who say they are on a tour of planetariums, who travel all over the country and all over the world visiting different planetariums — the fanatics,” says Rick Peeples, who operates and does voiceovers for several planetarium shows.

For many caught up in a city rhythm, astronomy can easily be pushed to the sidelines. “There is less of a personal sense of the sky,” Peeples says. “It’s harder to see stars in the city. But the news keeps people connected and in many ways better informed than before. That’s one reason this place was built. It’s really hard to do any kind of star gazing in the city.”

A medley of people can be seen meandering through the exhibits. Tourists from overseas and parents with their children wander around the displays. Groups of schoolchildren rush from space robot replicas to authentic meteorites. Some adults stand alone, looking intently at a moon rock, on loan from NASA, enclosed in glass. There are also interactive computer games and crater demonstrations.

The planetarium, founded by Max Adler in 1930, was the first modern planetarium to be built in the Western Hemisphere. “The popular conception of the universe is too meager; the planets and the stars are too far removed from general knowledge,” Adler said 75 years ago in his dedication address. “In our reflections, we dwell too little upon the concept that the world and all human endeavor within it are governed by established order and too infrequently upon the truth that under the heavens everything is inter-related, even as each of us to the other.”

Upcoming lectures at the planetarium cover topics such as Mesopotamian celestial science, the search for life in Antarctica and Einstein’s breakthroughs, continue to be a leading force in space exploration. The planetarium also offers classes, ranging from understanding our solar system to mastering navigation using the stars.

The Adler Planetarium is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Student admission is $10, free Monday and Tuesday. For more information and prices for show prices, visit www.adlerplanetarium.org.