You’re invited to get up close with some of the more familiar creatures found in our ocean.
Our touch tank pool allows you to gently touch marine animals such as sea stars, sea urchins, whelks, horseshoe crabs, and hermit crabs. These animals live in a variety of habitats and have developed many ways to survive the waves and predators. Volunteers are on hand to assist and teach you about these incredible animals.
Did you know, when a sea urchin “hugs” your finger if you gently touch its spines, it’s actually checking you out: Are you food or predator? If you’re neither, the animal will just gradually release you.
Some may find the word “biofact” bewildering, but the Museum promises clarity, enlightenment and fun that’ll inspire curiosity each week! Visitors will explore biological artifacts such as bones, fur, eggs, and shells; learn what they reveal about area wildlife; and create biofact replicas to take home
This week, learn about the different types of shells found near Ocean Isle Beach and dig through sand to practice identifying shells with ID guides.
Listen to stories starring animals or exhibits displayed at the Museum and complete interactive crafts or science activities based on a different story each week.
If My Family Lived in the Ocean by Devyn Goddard – A little girl with a wild imagination contemplates life if she and her family lived in the ocean, picturing her mom, dad, brother and sister as sea creatures inhabiting a coral reef. Join this adventure of imagination and make fun fish family portraits.
You’re invited to get up close with some of the more familiar creatures found in our ocean.
Our touch tank pool allows you to gently touch marine animals such as sea stars, sea urchins, whelks, horseshoe crabs, and hermit crabs. These animals live in a variety of habitats and have developed many ways to survive the waves and predators. Volunteers are on hand to assist and teach you about these incredible animals.
Did you know, when a sea urchin “hugs” your finger if you gently touch its spines, it’s actually checking you out: Are you food or predator? If you’re neither, the animal will just gradually release you.
Celebrate the Easter holiday weekend with coastal-themed festivities at the Museum of Coastal Carolina’s annual Family Day on Saturday, March 30 from 10 am – 2 pm. Museum visitors of all ages will enjoy carnival-style games, crafts, and family-friendly activities including shark tooth necklaces, straw rockets, a pirate ring toss, and more. Bring your appetite, because food trucks including Tasty Tee’s Snack Shack, Chocolate and S’more, and Sunset Slush will be on site throughout the event. Cape Fear Raptor Ambassadors will provide a close look at live birds of prey and, thanks to Fairytales and Dreams by the Sea’s expertise in bringing fairytales to life, visitors can have their pictures taken with a mermaid!
Everyone is a kid on family day! All visitors will be able to visit the Museum at the child’s rate of $8 per person. Activity tickets are sold at $5 for 10 tickets and $10 for 25 tickets.
The Beach Ball is a fun way to celebrate the place we love to live: the coast of North Carolina. Dress in your chicest beach formal coastal cocktail attire, enjoy drinks and dinner with friends, and learn a little about our coastal environment. Your support of the Ocean Isle Museum Foundation’s 2024 Beach Ball will help the Museum of Coastal Carolina and Ingram Planetarium inspire curiosity and educate generation of visitors for years to come.
For more information visit the Beach Ball page or call (910) 579-1016
In this animated adventure, Robokids Cy, Annie, and their dog Armstrong get a lot more than they expected from their class field trip in an impromptu adventure. Explore the Sun, Earth, and Moon with a witty star ship computer as navigator and guide. Race along the surface of the Moon! Collect an asteroid sample in low gravity! Survive a solar storm! Find a new appreciation for the unique beauty of Earth. Journey along with the Accidental Astronauts in this epic adventure. This is a great show for little explorers. The movie is followed by a live star show.
Funding for this film was provided by The Town of Sunset Beach through its Accommodation Taxes.
We used to wander around the continents and the oceans to expand to every corner of our planet. Not long ago, like heavenly riders, we conquered Earth’s atmosphere. And now… now we are becoming wanderers in a new vast world called the universe. Satellite technologies help us every day. They are the symbol of international cooperation across the continents. And they might enable us to live on this planet for another millennium.
Turn back the pages of time and witness the ancient wonders of the world as they appeared thousands of years ago. Explore the Great Pyramid, stand in the shadow of the towering Colossus, and experience the rest of the world’s Seven Wonders. Investigate the theories of how these wonders were created and get a glimpse of some of the universe’s greatest wonders. Followed by a live star show.
Supermassive black holes are found at the center of most galaxies.
Sagittarius A* is the one at the center of the Milky Way, and is four million times the mass of the Sun.
Scientists are beginning to uncover how galaxy collisions, and the subsequent merging of galaxies, activates galactic centers to produce these monstrous black holes.
Join Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences Professor, Dr. Julie Comerford, and former graduate student Dr. Becky Nevin, as they share current research into the evolution and development of supermassive black holes.
This is a live star show. The presenter will display the night sky on the planetarium’s dome ceiling and take you on a tour, pointing out the stars, planets, and constellations that are visible in our area. Later, as you are walking along the beach on a clear night, you will be able to recognize by name the celestial sights you see.
Total solar eclipses are rare and beautiful phenomena, and a total eclipse will cross the U.S. on April 8! Everyone in the continental U.S. will experience at least a partial solar eclipse.
To celebrate, our Planetarium presents Totality! every Thursday in March at 4:00 pm. Join us to learn the origins of eclipses, the history of eclipse watchers, and how to observe them safely.
The next solar eclipse will cross the U.S. in 2045, so don’t miss this one!
In this animated adventure, Robokids Cy, Annie, and their dog Armstrong get a lot more than they expected from their class field trip in an impromptu adventure. Explore the Sun, Earth, and Moon with a witty star ship computer as navigator and guide. Race along the surface of the Moon! Collect an asteroid sample in low gravity! Survive a solar storm! Find a new appreciation for the unique beauty of Earth. Journey along with the Accidental Astronauts in this epic adventure. This is a great show for little explorers. The movie is followed by a live star show.
Funding for this film was provided by The Town of Sunset Beach through its Accommodation Taxes.
We used to wander around the continents and the oceans to expand to every corner of our planet. Not long ago, like heavenly riders, we conquered Earth’s atmosphere. And now… now we are becoming wanderers in a new vast world called the universe. Satellite technologies help us every day. They are the symbol of international cooperation across the continents. And they might enable us to live on this planet for another millennium.
Turn back the pages of time and witness the ancient wonders of the world as they appeared thousands of years ago. Explore the Great Pyramid, stand in the shadow of the towering Colossus, and experience the rest of the world’s Seven Wonders. Investigate the theories of how these wonders were created and get a glimpse of some of the universe’s greatest wonders. Followed by a live star show.
Supermassive black holes are found at the center of most galaxies.
Sagittarius A* is the one at the center of the Milky Way, and is four million times the mass of the Sun.
Scientists are beginning to uncover how galaxy collisions, and the subsequent merging of galaxies, activates galactic centers to produce these monstrous black holes.
Join Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences Professor, Dr. Julie Comerford, and former graduate student Dr. Becky Nevin, as they share current research into the evolution and development of supermassive black holes.
This is a live star show. The presenter will display the night sky on the planetarium’s dome ceiling and take you on a tour, pointing out the stars, planets, and constellations that are visible in our area. Later, as you are walking along the beach on a clear night, you will be able to recognize by name the celestial sights you see.
In this animated adventure, Robokids Cy, Annie, and their dog Armstrong get a lot more than they expected from their class field trip in an impromptu adventure. Explore the Sun, Earth, and Moon with a witty star ship computer as navigator and guide. Race along the surface of the Moon! Collect an asteroid sample in low gravity! Survive a solar storm! Find a new appreciation for the unique beauty of Earth. Journey along with the Accidental Astronauts in this epic adventure. This is a great show for little explorers. The movie is followed by a live star show.
Funding for this film was provided by The Town of Sunset Beach through its Accommodation Taxes.