Groups and Locations

adler, planetarium, astronomy, start, museum, chicago

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago is a public building and a research institution. It aims to educate schoolchildren about astronomy in an exciting environment, whilst also maintaining significant holdings of texts and artefacts of interest to more scholarly visitors. The website provides a virtual tour of the planetarium, along with the usual transport and access information. It offers a substantial education section for teachers of school students. A section on shows and exhibits gives details of current presentations, which again are generally aimed at a younger audience. The historical collections section is more academic. It contains a database of the museum's holdings, which include: almost 2,000 historic instruments; about 550 individual maps, prints, and book plates featuring astronomical illustrations; over 2,000 books, including some incunabula. There are illustrated introductions to some of the more significant types of scientific instrument, such as astrolabes, orreries, armillary spheres, and telescopes. The site also contains Webster's database of signatures of instrument makers.