Morehead Planetarium, The First of Its Kind in the South

Posted Jun 10, 2018
On May 10, 1949, the Morehead Planetarium opened on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. It was first planetarium in the South, the first planetarium on a university campus and the sixth planetarium to be built nationwide. The planetarium was primarily a gift of John Motley Morehead III, an 1891 graduate and founder of Union Carbide Corporation. (NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources)

Related: Campus Connections

UNC honors murdered student body president Eve Carson on 40th birthday
Eve Carson is frozen in time as the bubbly, beloved UNC student body President. A bright future was cut short in 2008, when she was...
Sun Nov 23, 2025

Another Record-High Graduation Success Rate For UNC Student-Athletes
For the sixth consecutive year, UNC student-athletes established a record-high multi-year graduation rate as reported in the NCAA's annual Graduation Success Rates. The overall student-athlete...
Fri Nov 21, 2025

Carolina Insider Podcast: UNC Football hosts Duke, Basketball recap, Dan Shulman, Dr. Wesley Burks
Jones Angell and Adam Lucas preview UNC Football's matchup with Duke (7:04). Tar Heel Basketball took care of Navy and now heads to Florida for...
Fri Nov 21, 2025

Chansky’s Notebook: Sorry, We Miss You
Why do you think the Beat Duke Parade fizzled out? There may be a lot of reasons why college parades with whacky floats are things...
Wed Nov 19, 2025