The event is sponsored by Abrams Planetarium and the MSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. MSU professors, staff from the planetarium, students and dedicated stargazers gathered on the roof to watch the moon undergo a lunar eclipse.

MSU physics and astronomy professor Horace Smith explained to viewers – many looking like they just rolled out of bed – that a total eclipse of the moon occurs when the moon is completely covered by the Earth’s shadow, casting it in a deep, rusty red light.

While anyone who looked outside a window or stepped outside would have seen the eclipse, watching it with a group can be a special experience, Smith said.

“There’s a tendency of star parties,” he said.

“It’s always a little different when you see the celestial objects for yourself instead of seeing them in a book or a simulation.”

Even an 8 a.m. class couldn’t keep premedical sophomore Priyanka Pandey from waking up early to watch the eclipse.

“It was kind of like a big PJ lunar eclipse party,” she said.

“We found out it only happens twice a year and we thought it would be interesting to see It’s exciting, we didn’t think this many people would be up here.”

While looking through a telescope, Bob Victor, who served as the staff astronomer for Abrams Planetarium from 1967-99, shared stories of past eclipses.

There was the December 1963 lunar eclipse where the Earth’s shadow on the moon was so strong that it looked black.

And then there was the stargazing party for the 1975 lunar eclipse Victor said almost didn’t happen, but at the last minute, the eclipse appeared.

“These guys predicted an eclipse and there’s nothing there to see, that’s what the people who showed up thought,” he said.

Victor, 68, has been retired for eight years, but he still organizes star-viewing parties and enjoys teaching students and citizens about the what they can see in the night sky.

“People get a big kick out of looking at the moon,” Victor said.

“All the people in the club like sharing the beauty with everyone It just makes us pretty happy to hear what people think.”

Brian McVicar can be reached at mcvicarb@msu.edu.