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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A Surprise Visit To The Planetarium

Before we dyed our eggs, Graham and I made a long overdue trip to the Shedd Aquarium.



We paid a ridiculous amount to park, and on our short and brisk walk to our destination, we took some pictures.



We braved the elements.



Shortly thereafter, we found our spot in line. We learned we were in the wrong line to begin with, and we learned that there was a 2 hour wait to get inside. So, we chose a different destination:



The planetarium is probably the least frequented of Chicago's main three downtown. It's smaller, which isn't bad, but space and stars doesn't interest most people. For us, that was a good thing because the planetarium was empty compared to the Shedd. And being teachers, we got in free! Yahoo for staff ids!

Once we got inside, we saw a Mars rover.


Then we saw some planets created to scale. See that big yellow thing in the back? That's the sun. In the foreground you can see Saturn and Uranus. (Heh heh heh...)


We also got to see a few spinny universe things.


And, we got to see the ridiculousness that is the justification for reducing Pluto to "dwarf planet" status.


We moved on, and got to see Earth and Mars, Mercury, Pluto, and any other small planets in scale next to the sun.


Zoom! Zoom! Astronaut Angie gets down to business.


A piece of space fell into a house in the suburbs.



One of many sun dials on display.


Explanation of Cahokia in downstate IL.


Explanations and photos of Mayan calendars and spacey things.



Another universe spinny thing.


When we were done inside, we got to walk around in the sunshine. This is one of my favorite picture-taking spots in the whole city.


Graham snuck a photo of a very cold bride and her bridesmaids. The wind was brutal!


A parting shot of the Sears Tower.


Adios, skyline!


Better luck next time for the Shedd. We'll try again in the summer.

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