Chicago’s Adler Planetarium Announces Re-Open Date And Free Admission For IL Residents

Another sign that we might be getting close to getting back to "normal" is the opening of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

Adler Planetarium will finally fully re-open next month on the shores of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. This is a beautiful shot of it right now with some "ice boulders" in the lake.

Even better news for Illinois residents, they will get free general admission to the planetarium every Wednesday for the rest of the year. A great trip into the city for a mid-week getaway could easily be capped off with a trip to Adler to check out the stars.

If you're not familiar with Adler, you should check out this video. It was a much different experience than I had expected the first time I went there about 10 years ago.

The entire museum campus in downtown Chicago is absolutely fantastic. Adler isn't my favorite but you can't go wrong with any of the four world class museums on Chicago's lakefront.

If I had to rank the museums on Chicago's museum campus it would look like this:

1. Shedd Aquarium

This place is awesome. I try to make it there about every 5 years.

Fun game to play at Shedd. Try to find the moray eel in the big circular tank right after the entrance to the aquarium. There's also dolphins and beluga whales. I once had a conversation with one of the beluga whales. It was awesome. If you can only hit up one museum, my vote is Shedd.

2. Museum of Science and Industry

Tons of stuff to see in here. It's not all great, but there's so many hands on exhibits, you'll bound to find something that interests you. You can still walk through the whale's heart and I'm pretty sure the coal mine is still open.

3. Adler Planetarium

See above.

4. Field Museum

This is only ranked 4th because I've never been there before. Natural history, and history in general isn't the biggest interest to me. I have been told that I should go anyway, and that I would enjoy it. Maybe this summer.