Mars: The Ultimate Voyage
2024-04-07 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-14 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-21 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)

One Sky, Many Eyes
2024-04-07 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-14 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-21 16:30 - 17:30

Solar Eclipse Party
2024-04-08 12:30 - 16:45 | Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, 250 E Franklin St, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27516, United States
Join Morehead as we celebrate the solar eclipse! Outdoor activities are free and include solar observing, hands-on astronomy activities, and more. Ticketed admission in the building includes a live stream of the eclipse from totality, meteorite activities, and special eclipse-themed screenings of Carolina Skies in our Fulldome theater. Our museum store will also sell eclipse glasses on the day of the event and other merchandise as supplies last.

We are currently out of stock of eclipse glasses, but we will have a limited amount available for purchase on Monday, April 8. The limit is two per person.

Activities

Outdoors — Free

Telescopes and sunspotters for solar observing

Gift shop table with eclipse glasses and other merchandise

Hands-on solar and eclipse activities, and more!

Indoors — $10 admission

A live stream of the eclipse from totality on our Science Stage

Meteorites and other indoor activities in our Launch Lab

Carolina Skies: Solar Eclipse (SOLD OUT) – a 30-minute presentation providing information about the causes of solar eclipses and a special look at a total solar eclipse in the planetarium.

Tickets go on sale Monday, March 25. Guest passes, memberships, and walk-up discounts such as UNC students and Museums 4 All are not applicable for this event.

Forward! To the Moon
2024-04-12 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-19 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-26 15:00 - 16:00

Carolina Skies
2024-04-12 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-13 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-19 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-20 16:30 - 17:30, 2024-04-26 16:30 - 17:30

Magic Tree House Space Mission
2024-04-13 10:30 - 11:30, 2024-04-20 10:30 - 11:30, 2024-04-27 10:30 - 11:30

Astronaut
2024-04-13 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-04-27 12:00 - 13:00

Earth, Moon and Sun
2024-04-13 13:30 - 14:30, 2024-04-20 13:30 - 14:30, 2024-04-27 13:30 - 14:30

Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis
2024-04-13 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-04-20 15:00 - 16:00

The Sun: Our Living Star
2024-04-14 13:30 - 14:30, 2024-04-21 13:30 - 14:30

Teen Science Cafe | Evolution of Animal Behavior
2024-04-19 17:30 - 19:00 | Morehead Planetarium and Science Center Science Stage, 250 E Franklin St, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27514, United States
Feisty females: hyenas and lemurs and meerkats, oh my!

Please join us at Morehead Planetarium on Friday, April 19th for a very exciting Teen Science Cafe! For this month we will be joined by Duke University professor Dr. Christine Drea to explore species where females display physical and behavioral traits that are usually associated with males.

Dr. Drea will talk about a few special primate and carnivore species, in which all female members display physical and behavioral traits that are typically associated with males. Despite the species’ very different lifestyles, they share the same unusual suite of behavioral traits – including more rough-and-tumble play, scent marking, and aggression than males – that ultimately relate to increased female competition and contribute to making dominant females much more reproductively successful than lower females.

The western doors up the big stairs will open at 5:30 for pizza and conversation. The cafe will start at 6:00 and wrap up around 7:00.

About the Speaker

Dr. Christine Drea is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and of Biology at Duke University. Her research interests are in the mechanisms, development, function, and evolution of animal social and reproductive behavior, with a focus on exceptional mammals, including hyenas, lemurs, and meerkats. The general premise driving this selection is that unusual species test our understanding of normal processes and function as ‘experiments of nature.’

Her team’s current work, conducted in parts of Africa and at the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina, is centered on the role of androgens in female dominance and aggression, the neuroendocrine mediators of social bonding and cooperation, the evolution of chemical communication, and the role of microbes in mediating animal behavior and wellbeing. A passion for wildlife and wild spaces fuels teaching, mentoring, and public outreach aimed at encouraging curiosity about and appreciation of the world around us, as well as activism in support of nature conservancy. Service within the academy is focused on improving diversity and achieving equity in the workplace.

Program Schedule

5:30 pm – Arrive and check in. We will gather inside the west, main entrance of Morehead.

5:30 pm – 6:00 pm: Pizza social. Pizza social will take place in our classrooms, located on the 2nd floor.

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Discussion & activities. Presentations will take place at the Science Stage located on the 1st floor.

*Please Note: Depending on scheduled activities, the program may end between 7:00 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

Star Families: Spring Skies
2024-04-20 12:00 - 13:00

Apollo Remastered: A High Definition Presentation by Andy Saunders
2024-04-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, 250 E Franklin St, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27516, United States
Join us for an unforgettable evening as imaging specialist Andy Saunders takes us on a journey through the Apollo missions using his meticulously remastered photographs. Andy also explains the cutting-edge techniques applied to scans of the original film to create the highest-quality Apollo photographs ever produced. Revealing details that have been lost for half a century, they offer astounding new insight and a mesmerizing retrospective of humankind’s greatest adventure.

There will be a book signing event for Saunders’ “Apollo Remastered” book from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. This event is open to ticketholders, and copies of the book will also be available for purchase at the Cosmic Goods gift shop. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Get tickets

About the Author

Andy Saunders is a British author, science writer, and one of the world’s foremost experts of NASA digital restoration.

In 2023, he received the coveted Royal Photographic Society Award for Scientific Imaging, and his collaboration with Tom Hanks to showcase the images in “The Moonwalkers,” an immersive show in London, opened to wide critical acclaim.

His book, “Apollo Remastered,” released in September 2022, became an instant Sunday Times Bestseller in the UK and the biggest selling book on the Apollo program since records began. It was shortlisted by Barnes & Noble for Book Of The Year, 2022, and awarded Space Hipsters’ Book Of The Year in the same year.
