MUSEUM CAMPUS — Space geeks throughout Chicago are invited to watch Pluto's close-up Tuesday.
Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Drive, will join museums across the country broadcasting the New Horizon spacecraft's unprecedented flyby the icy dwarf planet Tuesday morning. "Encountering Pluto" will feature real-time coverage of the journey with commentary from NASA mission control and experts including famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Tuesday. Tyson, director of Hayden Planetarium in New York, will join the event via Google Hangout.
Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Pluto will also be the topic of the planetarium's monthly "Adler After Dark" series including a lecture by Adler Astronomer Shane Larson. Tickets in advance are $20 for non-members.
Launched in January 2006, New Horizons has since propelled itself to the outer edges of the solar system, traveling at eight miles per second.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
