PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 3, a group of around 30 Brown students gathered on the roof of the University’s Barus & Holley building to watch the Moon as it slowly drifted into the Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse.
The rooftop is home to a small domed observatory with a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope among other imaging devices. Students used the observatory telescope and several others to capture images of the event as it unfolded. This was the first of two lunar eclipses that will be visible from North America this year and the only total lunar eclipse of the year.
Several of the students were coordinators for Brown’s Astronomy Club, while others were there as part of a laboratory exercise for an introductory astronomy class. For the lab students, the eclipse, which started at around 4 a.m., was just the beginning of a busy day.
"Our Intro to Astronomy students were still excited to show up so early, even when their course examination was later that same morning," said Mahmoud Hallak, a laboratory specialist in the physics department.
The event was a golden opportunity to get some precious observing time in. Clouds, rain and the occasional blizzard have significantly limited observation opportunities this winter, so the group was thrilled to see clear skies on eclipse night.
"Weather challenges are the hardest part of astronomy; without clear skies, observing cannot be done,” said Alexis Ortega, a physics graduate student who helps to lead the astronomy club. “That is why it's important to take any chance we can when an opportunity presents itself like this lunar eclipse. We pride ourselves of seeking collaboration with lots of student groups despite not knowing if the date we have chosen will actually allow us to go through with it.”
For some students, it was their first time observing the sky from atop Barus & Holley. For others, it was their first time back to the observatory since the events of Dec. 13, when a tragic attack took the lives of two Brown students and injured nine others in a Barus & Holley classroom.
“It was unnerving but also oddly calm,” said Ortega, recalling his return to the observatory a few weeks ago. “At the end of the day, Barus & Holley is like home. My office is there. All my office mates are there. The first day back in the building was strange but also calm. It was the same feeling on the roof. It just felt maybe a little more peaceful — like things will be alright, and we’ll come together and get through this.”
Hallak was pleased to see how many students turned out for the event.
“In all honesty, we were thinking about options to make the labs virtual for students who didn’t feel comfortable coming at night,” said Hallak, who earned bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown in 2025. “But we ended up being surprised by how excited students were to go back to the observatory.”
Ortega said he hopes that events like this will draw more interest in astronomy across campus.
“We have people from all walks of life and academic concentrations,” Ortega said. “We’ve got people from economics, computer science and even art students from RISD. We want to cast a wide net and show that anyone can do astronomy, or just enjoy looking at the stars.”