R2D2 observatory dome prank is an inspired homage [video]
This brave student endeavour is being billed as a prank, but who wouldn't want their observatory to look like R2D2? If you ask us, the astronomers at Carleton College should be thanking the students for making their dome look far better. As for the homage part, apparently the idea isn't new: MIT students did something similar, though slightly less convincing, back in 1999.
Happily the Carleton students seemingly did it without causing any permanent damage – which colleges, unsurprisingly, tend to frown on. The disguise is apparently taped on or draped around the building. Unfortunately, according to some Facebook comments the college have already taken the R2D2 costume disguise down, leaving the dome naked, cold, but worst of all mundane.