Morehead Planetarium and Science Center

I came here for their Valentine’s Day presentation of Carolina Skies. I enjoyed the presentation. I thought the presenter was clear and she made the show interesting to listen to. I also enjoyed the view of the sky. I liked that she made it interactive and allowed the audience to try to find stars and constellations before pointing them out to us, I realized I am more familiar with the locations of them than I thought. It was relaxing and a nice way to spend an evening. I am definitely interested in attending an outside event with the astronomers. I am also interested in returning to visit the exhibits!

Super fun, for everyone! Really enjoyed the show and then seeing what the NC sky was going to look like that night. They have fun and educational gifts as well.

I love this place. I wish I grew up in NC, because this would have made my favorite field trip as a kid! Instead it’s my favorite field trip as an adult. The shows are great, and mind boggling! Space is just so mesmerizing and interesting, and this place is so educational. The gift shop is really cute too:)

Went to Carolina Skies. Great show. Make sure to take a few minutes before or after the show to walk through the exhibits — there is some remarkable history here.

I’ve walked past Morehead Planetarium for three years and have just gotten around to finally attending the show — wow, I have been missing out for years!
The star show I went to was amazing! No phones are allowed, so it’s a good place to relax and enjoy life outside of handheld technological devices. Apparently there are live shows where you can view stars that are actually out in the evening sky from within the planetarium. I plan on going to one of these aforementioned shows the next time I go.
The shows are also fairly inexpensive, and I recommend this place for everyone that has a chance to go!

I went here with my students on a field trip. The staff was very knowledgeable and helpful. The show was very informative and the quality of video was great. I liked how it was a live presentation rather than a recoding. They also played music during the presentation which I enjoyed. The gift shop was a bit pricey. I would check out a show if you are in the area.

This is a nice place to visit while in the area.
There are several shows to look while at the planetarium. One thing I was thinking while watching was that it would be awesome to watch a Hollywood movie on this dome screen. Even with it being a 2D film there were plenty of scenes that looked really 3D.
There is a lot of interesting history in this museum. They talk about how the original astronauts were trained there, and have some of the original pieces of equipment on display.
If you are a NASA history buff it is a great place to visit.
And when you fall asleep in the comfortable chairs while staring at the dome, try not to snore.

I enjoyed the Black Holes show we went to, and our tour of the sky that night. You should go just to check out the new Sony projectors!

Awesome spot in Chapel Hill. I have to go back to tour more of the facility and am planning to go to one of their free skywatching nights at Jordan Lake. It was even worth the admission to the museum just to see the «Carolina Skies» program in the dome. Interactive and really educational for 50 minutes– great retreat into outer space! :-)

I have a membership here so naturally I think it’s a «woohoo!» kind of establishment. My kids have enjoyed seeing just about every program here and we have all learned a lot about our solar system and beyond. It”s great to take out of town guests to UNC campus and finish up with a show here.
The Morehead planetarium also has outings where you can get a glimpse of the Carolina night skies through their telescopes. They are also a mainstay among educators throughout the region and a wonderful resource for the community.
The main point I took home from yesterday’s viewing was correcting my misconception of what I believed to be Mars in the sky is actually the Antearies star. And from here how to find Mars. Also a nice review on how to find the Big Dipper, Little Dipper and Ursa Major and Minor.

I love this place! After having not been to the planetarium for a while, I decided to take my wife here on a lark, a while back. We both loved it. They may have ditched the awesome Carl Zeiss projector in favor of a digital dome, but the minor drop in resolution is well worth the extra capabilities.
The shows are informative, the chairs are comfy, and when you leave, you’ll feel relaxed AND smarter. It’s a no lose situation!
Please, do yourself the favor, and check out a show at the Morehead Planetarium!

It’s hard to describe what an amazing place this is. I took my husband here last night for one of his birthday surprises. He absolutely loves astronomy and is always teaching me about the stars and planets. So I wasn’t sure if going to this event would be just a review for him– but he was blown away! The speaker, Amy, was incredible. She was so smart and had an amazing sense of humor. We learned so much about the constellations and where to find them, meteor showers that are happening this summer, planets that are lining up this summer, what we can currently see in the sky and at what time can we see it. She also told us stories and legends.
I remember going to the planetarium as a kid– but this was a WHOLE new ballgame. We got to see the view from looking up at the sky to looking at Earth from LIGHT YEARS away. It was SO COOL [insert nerdy snort here].
I was so glad I took my husband and she even wished him a happy birthday during the presentation! I had told them it was his birthday a month ago when I made the reservation for tickets. She also made sure to go around and talk to the guests individually before it started and ask them if there was anything in particular that they wanted to learn about! Very awesome.
We definitely hope to come back for the next Starry Nights event for adults in the fall season! It was so cool to feel like you were zooming around in space at the end!
Big thanks to Amy for making my husband’s birthday special! What an excellent host!
$ 12 per person for an hour and half– in-​depth astronomy lesson? What an awesome deal! Imax has nothing on this epic planetarium!
PS. I do have to comment that getting out of the lot was VERY confusing. Basically you were trapped in there if you didn’t have a credit card to pay the parking meter at the gate. I saw a woman totally panicking and I think that was really uncool to not let people be aware of that. I thought it was strange we couldn’t put cash in the machine last night. We were fine using our cards– but a little heads up that we would be paying for parking AFTER 5:30pm would have been useful…

I’m so thankful to have something as cool as the Morehead Planetarium right around the corner from me! It was a rainy, dreary Sunday afternoon, so we decided to go to a 2:30 showing. It turned out to be a show about black holes! They managed to take an otherwise sort of terrifying concept and make it almost entertaining and sort of light-​hearted (it was narrated by Geoffrey Rush of Pirates of the Caribbean fame). My 14 month old made it through more than half of the show before I think it became too visually stimulating for his little guy eyes. I’m not sure I am thankful that I know more about event horizon and singularity, freaky stuff… though, still pretty amazing! I want to do one of their guided Jordan Lake NC night sky tours this summer some time. Yeah, they do those. Cool, right?!

I never had the pleasure of visiting the Morehead Planetarium when I was in elementary school, but fortunately there’s fun for all ages to be had here.
First of all, there is a large gated parking lot in front of the building, but it is controlled by the University and is permit only. Visitors to the Planetarium are advised to park in a metered spot or in one of the pay lots on Franklin or Rosemary.
There are some exhibits here, but I think the main focus of the Planetarium is on programming. There are tons of fun and creative activities for children, and they also offer classes for adults. The Planetarium holds free skywatching sessions once, sometimes twice a month, so that could be a fun (and free) idea for an evening.