The Universe Comes to O'Hare Airport

Bored while waiting for a plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport? Want to see more than blank walls and ads for life insurance? Take a stroll to the tunnel connecting Terminals 2 and 3 and the Chicago Transit Authority bus stop to experience ... the universe.

It's true: the universe has come to O'Hare in the form of a new exhibit, "From Earth to the Universe," created by the Alder Planetarium and Department of Aviation. Boasting 56 astronomical images, it presents space from earth -- and the universe through the eyes of the most powerful space-based telescopes ever created.

If you visit, you'll see images of telescopes, star clusters, planets, moons, and galaxies. But there's more! Each image in the 1,000 square foot exhibit contains a Microsoft Tag. Using your cell phone, you can retrieve online information about each image. According the website: "Behind each Microsoft Tag a specially-created mobile website has been created with the help of the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics to take this universal experience to a deeper level."

"From the Earth to the Universe" has already traveled to venues around the world in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy.

Photo Credit: Saturn and Family, NASA