North Dakota State University students Levi Joraanstad and Colin Waldera were setting up a telescope last week to check out the moon and take some photographs of the celestial body when their night suddenly got a lot more dramatic. WDAY reports that a Fargo police officer mistook their telescope for a rifle—and one of their sweaters for a tactical vest. After checking to see if there were any operations going on nearby, the officer called for backup, with several officers making "contact" with the pair.

Unfortunately for Joraanstad and Waldera, they didn't take the officers seriously at first. Apparently they'd told some other folks about their plan and just assumed some friends were playing a prank on them, so they continued to rummage around in their bags and go about their business when the police called out. Eventually, thank goodness, they took the repeated warnings seriously, and complied.

Once the officers realized they were just looking at a sweet telescope (not pictured above), they were reportedly "very apologetic." No word on whether they hung around afterward to check out some lunar craters.

Source: WDAY via Boing Boing

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