On the very end of Lake Shore Drive sits the Adler Planetarium. Tucked behind the huge campuses of the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum, the dark dome appears to be hidden. But don’t be fooled. It’s Sunday afternoon, and the basement floor of the institution is packed.

On February 16, The Adler Planetarium reopened their exhibit entitled, “What is a Planet?” This exhibit explores the history of the evolving definition—and Pluto’s identity. It won first place in the British Society for the History of Science’s 2016 Great Exhibitions Competition.

Parker has used the Adler Planetarium many times before. For example, ACME classes have visited to view partial solar eclipses.

As visitors view the scattered video clips, which feature both famous scientists and ordinary people on the debate of Pluto’s identity, the elegance of evolution in the sciences is on display. “We sniffle that Pluto is no longer a planet, but with that change is an opportunity to learn,” Jayne Soulman, a part time employee said. “It also helps us see what we are learning more and more every day about space.”

Employees of all ages meander around the exhibit in blue tee shirts with the phrase “SPACE IS FREAKING AWESOME” strewn across in bold white letters. Two employees, a teenage boy and girl, sit idly on stools in the Kid’s Room. A six year old boy runs frantically up to them, asking where he can find another brown marker. He wants to draw Scooby-Doo on Mars. The teenage girl hands him one and suggests the boy draw Scooby on pluto, to stay on theme with the exhibit.

But the boy is unfamiliar with Pluto question– he wasn’t alive in August of 2006 when a spherical rock of ice, now known as Eris, was found orbiting the sun. The discovery puzzled astronomers. Weren’t there only supposed to be nine planets?

The discovery of Eris led the International Astronomical Union to assemble and create the true definition of a planet, a key characteristic of which is its gravitational force. In order for an entity to be considered a planet, its gravity must be strong enough to clear the space around it of other objects. 12 years later, scientists are still debating. Pluto was demoted.

Soulman, an older woman with a cosmic scarf displaying the constellations, approaches visitors asking if they believe that Pluto is a planet. Her small, round glasses does no good in hiding the excitement in her eyes.

Soulman works at the planetarium, she spends most of her time in this exhibit. Soulman said, “We get to learn what currently the astronomical community feels ‘makes’ a planet, but also the things we are learning more and more every day about space.”

According to their exhibit’s website, visitors will “explore artifacts from the Adler’s collection that show how ‘planets’ aren’t what they used to be, witness how astronomers and the media reacted to Pluto’s reclassification in 2006, and find out what makes a planet today.”

In order to achieve that goal, the Adler uses multiple different types of media. Visitors find themselves meandering in a maze with video clips of “The Colbert Show,” interactive polls, and display cases of artifacts from the 1700s.

Soulman looks around as people of all ages idly roam the exhibit, immersed in the information. When asked about why the exhibit has gotten so much attention, she tells me her theory. “I think for a lot of people, it’s the growth,” she said. “The future that we have. And who knows–by the time you’re an adult? We might have a means to travel out farther and farther into space.”

Joe Phelan, a physics major who works at the Adler part time, recognizes the change that comes with not only Pluto’s identity, but with science as a whole. “People don’t like change, but I think that science should change,” Phelan said. “People should understand that it’s an evolving field.”

Upper School science teacher George Austin, who has taken students to the Adler Planetarium before, recognizes the importance of teaching astronomy. “It allows you to find your place in a large universe,” he said. “First, to humble humans in that small space, but also to show you are connected to those things. You are not separate from it. It’s a humbling and uplifting experience at the same time.”

Austin doesn’t look at Pluto’s new identity as a demotion. “It’s not so much that Pluto got demoted from one group,” he said, “so much that it’s celebrating Pluto as part of a much larger family.”