First off, kudos to me for the groanworthy title to this blog post (it was a close tie between the one you see above and “Space Parties at Adler Shoot for the Stars”). Secondly, kudos to Adler for creating one of the coolest geek-friendly hangouts in the city.

This past Thursday marked the launch of Adler After Dark, a new adult-oriented series aimed at drawing an older, diaper-free crowd through the museum’s doors. Kicking off every third Thursday from 6 to 10pm, Adler After Dark allows space-loving dorks (like me) to sip cocktails, mill around planetarium exhibits (including the Atwood Sphere, a ride that costs extra $3 to experience during daytime museum hours), take in as many shows as they like and rock out to funk-heavy sets from DJ D-Rek. A bonus geekgasm is that the facility also rolls out special “adult only” events including trivia matches and demos the daytime crowd doesn’t get to see. Last night, a woman with a blowtorch demo’ed exactly how heat resistant space tiles that line the bottom of rockets are (hint: very) and a planetarium rep gave a behind-the-scenes tutorial on how the Definiti Space Theatre works and the size of the known universe (hint: nearly 1 million galaxies have been studied to date).

The experience was far better than visiting the facility by day. No rambunctious kids, no pushy parents, plenty of swanky dresses, good tunes, enough space nerdery/alcohol to make me pose for this picture:

I am totally prepared for the final frontier. Photo: Jason Adams

and quite literally, an entire building filled with science-minded dorks just itching to meet more of their kind. The next Adler After Dark installment is held November 19. Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 in advance.