A D L E R P L A N E TA R I U M

2015 in Review

The Adler Planetarium is more than a museum; it is a laboratory, a classroom, and a community exploring the Universe together. Each year, nearly 500,000 visitors experience the museum’s interactive exhibitions; live, state-of-the-art planetarium shows; hands-on, minds-on STEM education programs; cutting-edge research; and world-class collections.

Your philanthropy helps America’s First Planetarium spark curiosity in the next generation of explorers. With that, the Adler is pleased to offer the following update on the museum’s achievements in 2015.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Apollo 13 / Mission MoonCoinciding with the 45th anniversary of Apollo 13, the museum’s new interactive exhibition,

Mission Moon, opened to the public on April 11. Joining the Adler to celebrate the occasion

were Apollo astronauts Michael Collins, Walter Cunningham, Charles Duke, and James A.

Lovell, Jr.; Apollo flight directors Gerald Griffin and Milton Windler; and co-author of Apollo

13, Jeffrey Kluger. Mission Moon tells the story of America’s first steps into space through the

experiences of Captain James A. Lovell, Jr. and his family. With a mix of hands-on activities,

historical artifacts, and personal anecdotes, visitors join Captain Lovell and NASA on an

exhilarating journey into space.

Community Design LabThe Community Design Lab (CDL) is a flexible, creative workshop that celebrates the Adler’s

history and invites the public to be part of the future. Hands-on, minds-on activities challenge

visitors to design a solution to a problem. With more than 600 ounces of marshmallows,

10,000 wooden sticks, 12,000 yards of duct tape, 120 ounces of shaving cream, and a steady

supply of bubble wrap and cardboard, the design possibilities are endless! The CDL opened in

spring 2015 as a temporary exhibition, but has been so popular with visitors that the Adler plans

to keep it open indefinitely.

Summer of ScienceFrom June through August, the museum offered six special days of themed activities for the

whole family. Visitors participated in an astrophotography challenge, cooked up a comet,

engineered LED lights, enjoyed visits from Chicago musical theater troupe StarKid, the pint-

sized supersleuths of TV’s Moochie Kalala Detectives Club, and other special guests.

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Visitor Experience

Adler educator Michelle Nichols helps a ’Scopes in the City attendee safely observe the Sun.

’Scopes in the City’Scopes in the City brings telescopes to public spaces, where Adler staff and volunteers lead

free viewings and answer questions. In 2014, the Adler offered four telescope opportunities

that drew 600 stargazers. The program was expanded in 2015, thanks in part to presenting

sponsor, Magellan Corporation, offering 25 viewing events and welcoming nearly 2,000

people to date. Program leaders will continue to work with representatives of city parks,

libraries, schools, churches, and other community locations to develop long-term partnerships

and attract new audiences. As participation in ’Scopes in the City events increases, program

staff will train up to 20 teens per year to lead viewing experiences in their own communities,

expanding our outreach opportunity even more.

Planets on the PathIn collaboration with the Chicago Park District, and with generous support from Magellan

Corporation, the Adler created a scale model of the solar system spanning Chicago’s entire

lakefront, including parts of the Museum Campus. Planets on the Path cast the public in the role

of space explorer and challenged them to grasp the immensity of space as they traveled from

planet to planet by foot, bike, or even Segway. Each orbit was marked with a large placard that

shared mind-blowing facts about the planets in our cosmic backyard. These facts were also

used in social media during #FactFriday throughout the summer to coincide with the museum’s

“Space is Freaking Awesome” advertising campaign.

Galaxy RideIn 2015, the Adler introduced Galaxy Ride, a science roadshow designed to engage communities

in space science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This 360-mile bike trip began at the

Adler Planetarium, made several stops along the historical Route 66 bike trail, and concluded at the

St. Louis Science Center. The eight-day journey, which began on September 18, was led by Adler

astronomer and TED Senior Fellow Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz. At each of the seven stops along the

route, the Galaxy Ride brought the Universe a little closer to the public with free, space-themed,

interactive science activities facilitated by our educators and in partnership with local schools,

libraries, and astronomy clubs. The themes of each stop were based on celestial objects and their

distance from Earth as mapped on a logarithmic scale. Chicago represented Earth, while St.

Louis represented our nearest neighboring galaxy—Andromeda. In total, nearly 1,000 people

participated in doing science with us across the state!

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Adler Everywhere

A Galaxy Ride attendee in Lincoln, Illinois observes the magnetic properties of rocks.

Whether designing and testing an experiment, using technology to address a social problem,

or observing the night sky, Adler teens don’t just learn about science—they do science with

Adler experts as their guides.

InternsThe Adler’s Teen Internship Program places students in professional roles throughout the

museum. Astro-journalism interns practice their science communication skills and publish

their work online; interns in our Citizen Science and Far Horizons programs contribute to real

scientific research; and teen facilitators work with guests on the museum floor and in the

Doane Observatory. In 2015, the Adler’s intern pool included 16 high-school students and two

undergraduates. Over the summer, these young people created a controller to drive a virtual

rover at the South Side Mini Maker Faire, designed and filmed a series of virtual tours of the

museum for incarcerated youth, and much more.

Hack DaysThe Adler’s Hack Days encourage students to “hack” their environment—to find new ways of

using available technologies to solve real-world problems. Working with STEM professionals,

young people learn valuable technical and career skills such as coding, web development,

teamwork, and communication.

RANDOM HACKS OF KINDNESS, JR. Designed to engage middle school students, Random

Hacks of Kindness, Jr. took place on Saturday, February 28, introducing students to basic

concepts of coding and building phone apps for projects designed to help others. Working

in teams of three, paired with a mentor, 60 middle school students used technology to

make their community a better place.

CIVIC HACK DAY As a part of the National Day of Civic Hacking, this 28-hour event

was held on Saturday, June 6 and welcomed 35 adults and 3 teens to the museum to

collaborate in solving challenges that face their communities.

GIRLS DO HACK Fall 2015 marked the third annual Girls Do Hack event. On November 14, 80

young women from Chicago-area schools teamed up with 40 female STEM professionals to

practice and gain confidence in the skills they’ll need to excel in STEM careers.

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Teen Programs

Far Horizons: A Tribute to Steve FossettFar Horizons: A Tribute to Steve Fossett began nine years ago with two astronomers, one

volunteer, and an ambitious idea: that high-altitude ballooning could give participants real

science, math, physics, and engineering skills—and a new perspective on their place in the

cosmos. Since its pilot in 2006, Far Horizons has increased in size and impact. Under the

guidance of Adler experts, Far Horizons’ students design, build, test, and operate increasingly

complex systems to fly on high-altitude balloons. The Far Horizons program provides real-world

opportunities for students and the community to actively participate in STEM challenges.

Youth between the ages of 10 and 18 work with peers, museum interns, and astronomers to

design, build, and launch experiments flown to heights near 100,000 feet on a high-altitude

balloon, and recover them the same afternoon. In 2015, Far Horizons reached 433 students

and Adler staff have successfully mentored other organizations to launch their own high-

altitude ballooning programs.

Perseid Meteor Shower Star PartyOn August 12, the Adler held their annual Perseid Meteor Shower Star Party at Cantigny Park

in Wheaton, IL. This year’s event drew twice as many people as last year’s—more than 1,200

guests enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, live music, a scavenger hunt for kids, interactive

science activities, and presentations by Adler astronomers as meteors (also known as “shooting

stars”) blazed through the night sky.

Celestial BallThis year’s annual Celestial Ball: Over the Moon raised a record-breaking $1.7 million to support

the Adler’s STEM outreach initiatives for Chicago’s youth. At the gala, Adler Trustees and

Women’s Board members recognized BMO Harris Bank—represented by David Casper, BMO

Harris Bank President and CEO—with the 2015 Corporate Partner Award. BMO Harris Bank’s

commitment to supporting the Adler and its interactive approach to engaging people—

especially youth—through hands-on science experiences made the company the front runner

for this year’s Corporate Partner Award. In addition, BMO Harris recently supported the Adler

through its co-sponsorship of the museum’s newest sky show, Destination Solar System.

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Special Events

Women in Space Science Award CelebrationThe annual Women in Space Science (WISS) Award Celebration recognizes women who have

made significant contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math

(STEM). The Adler Women’s Board was proud to recognize NASA Astronaut and U.S. Navy

Captain Sunita L. Williams with this year’s award. Captain Williams accepted the award at

a luncheon, after which she spent the afternoon sharing her experiences with 200 young

women from Chicago-area schools. WISS raised more than $167,000 this year to support the

Adler’s programs and has raised over $1 million to date. These funds support initiatives such

as Girls Technology Camp and Girls Do Hack—an all-day STEM career exploration program for

young women.

Digital Collections CatalogIn 2013, the Adler launched the Collections Access Initiative (CAI)—a five-year, multi-phased

effort to create an expansive online presence for the Adler collections. As part of the CAI,

the Adler unveiled a new online catalogue in October 2014, making items from the museum’s

collection available to anyone with internet access, anywhere in the world. In 2015, the Adler’s

History of Astronomy Department accepted more than 600 unique audio and video tapes

into the museum’s archives. The tapes contain a wide variety of content, including former

planetarium sky shows, panel discussions, astronomy lectures, and interviews from throughout

the Adler’s institutional history, and in turn, the history of planetaria as a whole. The Adler

Planetarium Audio/Video Digitization Project was launched in August 2015, as an extension of

the CAI in order to assess, digitize, and catalogue this unique audio-visual material and make it

accessible to the public.

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Collections

Looking Ahead

Mars-di Gras (February 2016)On February 6, we’re saying goodbye to Earth and heading to Mars. Guests will be transported

to the Red Planet, masquerade as the first Martians, and experience first-hand what it would

be like to live, work, and play on Mars. They’ll learn what it will take to live on the Red Planet,

join a parade with other museum visitors on a simulated Martian surface, masquerade on Mars

with a helmet designed and decorated by them, discover simple DIY robotic projects in action,

photobomb their friends in a special Humans of Mars photo-op, and join the second line as a

brass band roams the planetarium’s halls.

What Is a Planet? (Spring 2016)This exhibition will mark the 10th anniversary of the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet

and the 170th anniversary of the discovery of Neptune. It will revisit these and other historic

episodes, covering six centuries of discoveries and debates. Guests will discover how the

concept of a planet has changed throughout history and test their own ideas about the subject,

by exploring historical artifacts from the Adler collections and by participating in hands-on,

minds-on activities.

Planet Nine (Summer 2016)In 2016, The Adler will premiere a new sky show based in part on the research of Dr. Michael

E. Brown, who delivered the first Kavli Prize Laureate Lecture at the museum in March 2015.

Following their 2005 discovery of Eris, Dr. Brown and his team at CalTech set the stage for

Pluto’s demotion from 9th planet to dwarf planet. After 75 years in isolation at the edge of the

Solar System, Pluto was recast as a member of a rich class of worlds: the dwarf planets beyond

Neptune’s orbit. These alien lands include the remarkably bright Eris; Haumea, an egg-shaped

world that rotates incredibly fast; and Sedna, whose orbit takes it deep into the far reaches of our

Solar System. The demotion of Pluto is only the beginning of a story that is still unfolding. In Planet

Nine, audiences will join scientists in the search for a true ninth planet much farther from home.

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Gemini XII 50th Anniversary (November 2016)On November 11, 1966, Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin launched into space. Over the next four

days, these men would live and work in the cramped cabin of the Gemini 12 spacecraft. Four

days after launching into space, they reentered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the

Atlantic Ocean. The completion of this mission meant America was in space to stay. Join the

Adler on November 11, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gemini 12, its brave crew, and the

thousands of people in Mission Control and around the country who contributed to its success.

Doane ObservatoryThe Adler Planetarium is grateful to Adler Trustee Duke Petrovich and his wife, Nancy, for their

family’s generous commitment to the Doane Observatory renovation. With the addition of the

Petrovich Family Observing Gallery and Lab, visitor access has been expanded while providing a

workspace for the more than 700 teens the museum engages each year in STEM experiences.

Observing programs and field trips can now be offered year-round, where Adler scientists and

educators collaborate with teens on robotics, engineering, high-altitude balloon experiments,

and observing projects. Fundraising continues for Phase Two of the renovation project, which

will transform the observatory into a public, lakeside destination with an expansive outdoor

plaza. This unique space will significantly increase the capacity of the observatory and create a

fully accessible star park and outdoor classroom for informal skywatching, expanded hands-on

youth programming, and unparalleled special events.

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Your support matters. At the Adler Planetarium we encourage people of all ages to roll up their sleeves and do science with us, bask in the mind-blowing vastness of the Universe, ask big questions, and help find the answers.

As the Adler brings hands-on, minds-on science experiences to people at the museum, in the Chicago area, and beyond, your support matters more than ever.

Thank you!