Planetarium Shows Overview

Join more than seven million people — including 11 of the 12 men who walked on the Moon, along with dozens of other NASA astronauts — who have explored the universe through planetarium shows at Morehead!

You can choose from two different types of shows: "live" star shows and multimedia shows. What's the difference?

Morehead's star shows include the classic "Carolina Skies," which is presented by a narrator who's an astronomy educator at Morehead. Since each star show is live, each star show is a little bit different, showcasing the night sky as it appears on that date.

Thousands of stars, planets, constellations, nebulas, galaxies and other sky objects can be projected onto the planetarium dome for the audience to view in a "dark sky" environment that's hard to find in the well-lit natural world! Morehead also offers several seasonal versions of its star shows, including "Carolina Skies: Valentine Edition," "Our Vanishing Night" and "Scare-o-lina Skies."

Looking for something a little different? Multimedia shows are exciting and education, full of fun and adventure.

Multimedia shows for public audiences are offered on Saturdays and Sundays during the traditional school year. During the summer, public shows are offered on weekdays, too.

In 2010, Morehead installed a new fulldome digital video (FDV) projection system, and all planetarium shows now use this amazing technology.

Multimedia shows for school field trip groups are offered during weekdays throughout the school year and are by reservation only. (If the group does not use all of the seats in the planetarium, those seats may be available to the public.)

Visiting soon? Check out Morehead's interactive calendar to see what's happening when you'll be here. Just click the date — the interactive calendar is typically up-to-date within one week of today.

Please note that Morehead does not offer all of its shows every day and that exhibits may be closed for maintenance or for classes during some hours.

If you're planning to visit several weeks from today, check out our current schedule of public shows to plan your trip and check the interactive calendar just before your visit to learn about any schedule updates.

Please note that seasonal schedules change four times each year (spring, summer, fall and holiday), and some shows are not offered during every schedule.

In addition to its public shows, Morehead offers shows during the week especially for school classes and other field trip groups. These school shows do not appear on the seasonal schedule but do appear on Morehead's daily calendar.

If seats are available, the public may purchase tickets to school shows.

However, school groups with reserved seating have first priority on any remaining seats (for example, if extra chaperons attend), so Morehead cannot guarantee that public seats will be available for school shows.