Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Adler planetarium

I love planetariums. Or should that be planetaria? My Webster's Unabridged says both are correct. When I was in school, one of my classes took a day trip to New York to visit the Hayden planetarium in Central Park, the one that was subsequently seen in Woody Allen's movie Manhattan. I was mesmerized. And amazed at that double-headed projector they used to put the stars up on the domed ceiling.

The Adler planetarium before its 1999 expansion.

I've also been to sky shows in the planetarium at the Palais de la découverte in Paris. And I think I've been to one or two other planetariums, but I can't remember where. I haven't seen a show inside this one, however. It's Chicago's Adler planetarium. I did walk in and look at the exhibits back in 1996, but didn't have the time to reserve a spot in the theater.

I read that the Adler is the oldest planetarium in the western hemisphere having been built in 1930 (five years before New York's Hayden). Three years after I was there, the museum expanded and added a third theater. I haven't been to a planetarium show since 1982, so I'm overdue!

This is the tenth in a brief series of photos that I took while visiting Chicago in June 1996. They're 35mm color slides that I've scanned and digitized.
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6 comments:

  1. A Lewis18 January, 2011 16:15

    We had a planetarium in town growing up....we'd go there every single year of all of my childhood school years. I loved it!

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  2. Diogenes18 January, 2011 22:20

    I like planetariums as well. The one I remember best was the domed canvas ceiling of the second story dance floor of The Saint in NYC. They would project constellations and stars to the music. Early 1980s.

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  3. Starman18 January, 2011 23:37

    Oh this reminded me of my first visit to a planetarium. It was a school field trip and it was in Washington, D.C. I, too, was just amazed that such things could exist.

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  4. Anonymous19 January, 2011 05:50

    What a beautiful location! I haven't been to a planetarium in ages, another reason to go to Chicago. Thanks, Walt.

    BettyAnn

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  5. Anonymous19 January, 2011 05:52

    I like steak and kidney pie. Is that the same as S&K pudding??

    BettyAnn

    ReplyDelete
  6. wcs19 January, 2011 13:01

    alewis, cool!

    diogenes, sounds interesting!

    starman, "star"man. N'est-ce pas!

    bettyann, I answered in the newsiness section. It's not quite the same thing, apparently.

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