CofC Professor Helps Stars Align for Charleston's New Planetarium

^{Above: Chris Fragile at the new Charleston Planetarium in West Ashley. (Photos by Catie Cleveland)}

Charleston has a lot of -iums: There’s the South Carolina Aquarium, Uncle Kyle’s Sweater Emporium, the TD Arena stadium and plenty of auditoriums. But there isn’t a planetarium. Until now.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Paul Gangarosa, a local entrepreneur and former adjunct faculty member in the College of Charleston’s Department of Health and Human Performance, decided to do something about this lack of stargazing in our city. So, he reached out to astronomy faculty at the College and pitched the idea of building a planetarium.

Could they make the stars align?

When Chris Fragile, a professor in the College’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, read Gangarosa’s inquiry, he jumped aboard the mission.

After all, Fragile already had plenty of experience with planetariums – at least the portable kind. When he’s not teaching at the College or conducting his own research, Fragile visits local elementary schools and puts on planetarium shows for the students. Being a traveling showman of sorts has made Fragile realize that a permanent planetarium might be in high demand in Charleston.

“Whenever I do planetarium shows for the public, I always open it up for questions at the end. It’s always amazing, the number and quality of questions that I get from people,” Fragile says. “I think there is some demand, or some interest among people, to have a place where they can go and think about space.”

So, what exactly can you see at a planetarium? Although we often think of stars and planets as stagnant objects across a black canvas, the constellations shift over the course of the night. The planetarium show allows you to watch the night sky like a movie – but a movie in fast-forward.

“I usually just start off showing what the sky would look like if you just camped out for a night,” Fragile says, recounting his many school planetarium shows. “But instead of having to wait the whole night, you can speed it up and make the stars move across the sky in a few minutes or a few seconds, if you want.”

Not only can you see the constellations as they appear to us today, but the planetarium show can reveal the shapes, patterns and stories that stargazers throughout history have deciphered from the sky.

“The ancient civilizations used to think, Oh, that looks like a scorpion and that looks like a bear and that looks like a whatever. And so, people like to see the pictures that go with the constellations,” Fragile explains.

While every experience at the planetarium can leave you starstruck, Fragile does have a favorite part of his traveling shows.

“The cool thing is whenever you move locations on Earth, it’s like you’re in a little rocket ship. So, you see yourself lifted off the globe with the Earth below you. The kids always really enjoy that,” Fragile says with smile. “At one time I wanted to be an astronaut, so maybe I like that part of it myself.”

Although going to space isn’t in Fragile’s job description, bringing space to us certainly is – even if it is an astronomical feat … with astronomical challenges.

“The two biggest questions have always been location and money,” Fragile explains. “Nobody on the board had the money to do this up front. So, we have been trying as much as possible to get sponsors, to get people interested. One part of the process was getting recognized as a nonprofit organization so that we could start taking donations. And then the other was approaching possible partners for locations.”

The board scouted multiple sites for constructing the planetarium, including the Charleston Museum and the South Carolina Aquarium.

“I actually learned that the Charleston Museum at one time did have a planetarium,” Fragile recalls from the scouting process. “When they moved to their current location, they decided not to bring the planetarium along. They haven’t had one for 40 or so years.”

All the more reason to push forward with this project!

One key factor in their decision of where to build was the target audience: Would it be tourists? Adult community members? School kids?

“At least initially, our biggest draw might be bringing in schoolchildren for field trips,” Fragile says. “I hope we inspire them to at least think about astronomy. Think about science.”

The team landed on a space at the Citadel Mall in West Ashley: It has plenty of parking space to accommodate school buses – and plenty of building space for a portal into outer space.

And after years of tireless effort on the planetarium project, a chance to encounter space has finally landed. The new Charleston Planetarium opened on March 1, 2025.

“Finally having some equipment showing up has been a big hurrah for us,” Fragile says. “That’s the exciting thing, when you finally have something that you can touch and feel, and it starts to seem like it’s becoming real.”

And it certainly has become real! While the opening is an exciting accomplishment, it is not the final step. Right now, the Citadel Mall planetarium is a temporary setup with an inflatable dome.

“Our ultimate goal is to have a permanent facility,” Fragile says. “So, we still have a long way to go before we reach this goal, and the biggest hurdle is still going to be raising money to be able to get there. But we’re hoping that at least by opening the planetarium that we have now, we can start getting kids on field trips, start getting people to maybe join as members, get some more people interested.

“And we’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of interest we’ve gotten so far!” Fragile continues. “So, hopefully that translates into a bit more success in terms of continuing to raise money and progress toward our goals. At least now we can start showing people what’s possible and what we could do.”

One of these possibilities that Fragile is hoping for is making the planetarium accessible to students at the College of Charleston.

“I would love to have a planetarium that was either on campus or within walking distance of campus,” he says. “I think it would be a great partnership between the College and the City of Charleston if we could set up some sort of planetarium that everybody had access to.”

For now, CofC students will have to make visiting the planetarium a field trip of their own – but now that will actually be possible!

“The biggest headline is that we’re excited that this is here, and we want people to come check it out and enjoy it,” Fragile concludes. “This isn’t the big, fancy, permanent planetarium that we’re ultimately shooting for, but we’re hoping that it’s a step in the right direction.”

Considering that now Charlestonians can experience the solar system in a whole new way, that step is a cosmic leap for us.