CHICAGO - It’s not always easy to see the night sky in the city, but the Adler Planetarium’s Doane Observatory offers Chicagoans a rare, up-close view of the cosmos.

What we know:

Home to the largest publicly accessible telescope in the Chicago area, the observatory invites hundreds — sometimes thousands — of visitors each year to peer through its 24-inch reflecting telescope. On clear Wednesday nights, the public can view planets, galaxies, clusters and even the moon, often for the first time.

"It’s just a really stunning view," said Dylan Borgerding, a public observing educator at Adler. "Most people who come through here have never looked through any telescope, let alone a big one. The reactions are priceless."

Staff and volunteers say the observatory’s accessibility makes it uniq

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