Sky-watching at SMU features experts and powerful telescopes

DALLAS (SMU) — On April 8, 2024, the SMU community will gather across the campus at mid-day to view the total solar eclipse, with telescopes and experts staged at various sites to heighten both the viewing and understanding of the experience.

The Deason Innovation Gym (The DIG), the maker space on the ground floor of Caruth Hall, will be open from 9-noon on April 8 to allow members of the SMU community to build their own pinhole projector for safe eclipse viewing.

On eclipse day, members of the Physics Department faculty will deliver short-talks in the rotunda of Dallas Hall from 11 a.m. to noon and will project the eclipse onto a screen inside the rotunda once the event begins at 12:23 pm. Those gathering in the rotunda will be served celebratory eclipse cookies frosted in black and white.

The largest crowds will begin gathering at noon at three designated outdoor viewing locations, where FDA-approved eclipse glasses will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis:

Late Fountain plaza east of Dedman Life Sciences Building

A digital camera attached to a telescope will transmit the images of the eclipse to large video screens for group viewing. Physics professors and astronomers from around the country will also be on hand to answer questions and offer facts about this rare event.

Dallas Hall Lawn

Telescopes manned by faculty members will be set up for viewing. Student journalists from the Daily Campus will provide supplies and demonstrate how to build a pinhole camera for safe viewing.

Sculpture Plaza at Meadows Museum

The Meadows Museum is hosting a Total Eclipse of the Art on the sculpture plaza from noon to 2:30 p.m. focused on how the eclipse will change shadows reflected by artwork and landscaping there.