Founded in 1949 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is the largest planetarium in the Southeast and the first planetarium on a college campus in the United States. During the 1960s and 1970s, Morehead served as a training center for NASA's astronauts -- 52 astronauts learned about celestial navigation at Morehead, including 11 of the 12 men who walked on the Moon.
Today, Morehead offers family-friendly programming for many science disciplines in addition to astronomy and space science, including these activities:
- Fulldome planetarium shows, including original Morehead productions that have been leased by more than 30 planetariums worldwide
- Live science demonstrations on Saturdays and Sundays
- Summer Science Camps (for grades K-8) in Chapel Hill and in RTP
- Family Science Day programs, "Meet A Scientist" programs and other special events
- Monthly skywatching sessions
- Carolina Science Cafe, featuring UNC science professors and other expert speakers
- DESTINY mobile science laboratory visits to middle and high schools
- PLANETS portable planetarium visits to elementary schools
In addition, Morehead founded the North Carolina Science Festival in 2010 and continues to administer this statewide annual celebration of science and technology.
The Morehead Building is also home to the UNC Visitors Center and to the Morehead Observatory, which is operated by UNC's department of physics and astronomy. The observatory offers public guest nights (reservations required) each month, providing visitors with an opportunity to observe astronomical objects through its 24-inch reflecting telescope.
For more information about Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, please visit the Morehead website, "like" Morehead on Facebook and follow Morehead on Twitter.
Location |
250 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC |
Website |
www.moreheadplanetarium.org |
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