When the Academy disbanded in 1929, the Library assumed responsibility for the science museum in a partnership that has evolved and endured for almost 80 years.

The Minneapolis Planetarium was shuttered when the central library was torn down in 2002 to make way for the new Cesar Pelli-designed facility that would be funded largely through a city referendum.

From the opening to the closing of the old planetarium, over 4 million Minnesota visitors took advantaged of the facility and its star-shows programs.

In September 2011, the Planetarium Society merged with the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History.

The system utilizes Uniview software and was designed by Swedish academics at Linköping University and the company SCISS along with scientists at the American Museum of Natural History.