Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

It's a solar observatory run by New Mexico State University for AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, a very big deal in astronomy) as part of the National Solar Observatory, which has several sites. Well, a few days ago hordes of FBI agents swarmed the place. No word whether Mulder and Scully were among them.

Otero county Sheriff Benny House said "The FBI is refusing to tell us what's going on," he told the Alamogordo Daily News. "There was a black hawk helicopter, a bunch of people running around antennas and work crews on towers but nobody would tell us anything."

He speculated that maybe somebody had attacked a member of the staff, but asked why if that was so, his department hadn't been called and why the FBI got involved so quickly. Everyone is wondering why they are being so secretive.

Maybe somebody was 'colluding' with Russians. Maybe that's it.

The local post office was evacuated too. The post office people say they weren't told why, just that they would be told when they could return. But another astronomical facility only a mile away hasn't been evacuated.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy said in a statement that it is "addressing a security issue". AURA decided to "temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure, " spokeswoman Shari Lifson said, adding AURA is "working with the proper authorities on this issue".

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...story.html

https://news.sky.com/story/mystery-closu...o-11496171

The internet consensus is... "We're not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens".

With the post office closure, that would suggest a suspicious substance or device was mailed there.

Black helicopters and men in black. Maybe they spotted a ufo and the g-men had to move in to destroy the evidence.

(Sep 13, 2018 04:37 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]With the post office closure, that would suggest a suspicious substance or device was mailed there.

Yeah, either mailed to there or from there.

The fact that the FBI didn't just send one or two agents but instead swarmed the place, suggests that what whatever it was alarmed them.

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(Sep 13, 2018 09:21 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ]Black helicopters and men in black. Maybe they spotted a ufo and the g-men had to move in to destroy the evidence.

I bet the Cigarette Smoking Man was there.

Somebody went up there on Wednesday Sept 12 (six days after it was evacuated Thursday 9-6) and flew a camera drone over the site and it appears completely deserted. No people visible, no vehicles, nothing. (An attractive mountaintop location though.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...mUAwR55ZTw

The National Solar Observatory says:

"AURA - our management organization - is addressing a security issue at Sunspot Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico and has decided to temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure."

"Precautionary measure?" That suggests that remaining there is dangerous somehow. Has somebody threatened to attack it? Has it been contaminated somehow, chemically or radiologically? If it was under physical threat, one would expect to see law enforcement there. If it was contaminated, one would expect to see hazmat teams. If the FBI wanted everyone out so that they could look for evidence, we would expect to see them looking for evidence.

They don't seem to be very determined to keep people out if there's just one strand of yellow police tape across the access road.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnrKBiEn2HT/...bservatory

(Sep 13, 2018 04:34 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]It's a solar observatory run by New Mexico State University for AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, a very big deal in astronomy) as part of the National Solar Observatory, which has several sites. Well, a few days ago hordes of FBI agents swarmed the place. No word whether Mulder and Scully were among them.

Otero county Sheriff Benny House said "The FBI is refusing to tell us what's going on," he told the Alamogordo Daily News. "There was a black hawk helicopter, a bunch of people running around antennas and work crews on towers but nobody would tell us anything."

He speculated that maybe somebody had attacked a member of the staff, but asked why if that was so, his department hadn't been called and why the FBI got involved so quickly. Everyone is wondering why they are being so secretive.

Maybe somebody was 'colluding' with Russians. Maybe that's it.

The local post office was evacuated too. The post office people say they weren't told why, just that they would be told when they could return. But another astronomical facility only a mile away hasn't been evacuated.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy said in a statement that it is "addressing a security issue". AURA decided to "temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure, " spokeswoman Shari Lifson said, adding AURA is "working with the proper authorities on this issue".

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...story.html

https://news.sky.com/story/mystery-closu...o-11496171

The internet consensus is... "We're not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens".

sounds like someone may have tried to use the observatory to interfear with TV or radio
just a guess

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(Sep 14, 2018 09:41 PM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]Somebody went up there on Wednesday Sept 12 (six days after it was evacuated Thursday 9-6) and flew a camera drone over the site and it appears completely deserted. No people visible, no vehicles, nothing. (An attractive mountaintop location though.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...mUAwR55ZTw

The National Solar Observatory says:

"AURA - our management organization - is addressing a security issue at Sunspot Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico and has decided to temporarily vacate the facility as a precautionary measure."

"Precautionary measure?" That suggests that remaining there is dangerous somehow. Has somebody threatened to attack it? Has it been contaminated somehow, chemically or radiologically? If it was under physical threat, one would expect to see law enforcement there. If it was contaminated, one would expect to see hazmat teams. If the FBI wanted everyone out so that they could look for evidence, we would expect to see them looking for evidence.

They don't seem to be very determined to keep people out if there's just one strand of yellow police tape across the access road.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnrKBiEn2HT/...bservatory

if someone has issued a threat via using the facility & the uni cant afford to up its funding for security, they probably wont let them open it up again and put staff there as it would go against their insurance.


doesnt do well in advertising if they say "cant afford to pay for a new fence, not allowed to put staff on site or they are not covered by state insurance"
etc etc...

Here's a video shot by a guy who went up there, walked past the police tape and up the road, and wandered around the whole place. There were some vehicles, but they all seemed to belong to the observatory and were just left there. No FBI spooks anywhere. There didn't seem to be any people at all, though some visitors were gathering on the road by the gate when our video guy got back. One trash can in the observatory had an X-files CD box sitting on top of it! Seems fitting. Maybe it was a clue.

Apparently there are now a couple of Sheriff's cars at the entrance, to head off anyone else from wandering around (and maybe looting).

The guy who made the video did report a strange smell, which could be anything from something scary and toxic that caused the hurried evacuation to (more likely) rotting garbage that's been sitting in a can for a week.

The place isn't just the observatory, though that dominates it and represents most of the buildings. It's a little unincorporated settlement called 'Sunspot' with a handful of houses and people live there (...but not now). It has a tiny post-office (evacuated). Apparently Sunspot's populated by observatory staff, plus US Forest Service people. (It was probably a great little place, before the weirdness hit, scenic mountains, small enough where everybody knew everybody and populated by astronomers.) Their stuff is still there, including the observatory's computers and valuable scientific gear, like they just stopped whatever they were doing and... disappeared.

The truth is out there.

No sign of the cigarette-smoking man.

Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...AVdVBvSjcU

If even housing was evacuated, that may indicate a problem with the water supply or radon.

They have a computer that predicts sun spots 

ok, so thats probably quite expensive software and if they have used it to predict stock shares or betting odds and been running a secret booky while not paying taxes or skirting the edges of the stock market laws... that would get the government all jumpy and want to close them down quickly.
additionally they over look white sands.
maybe they all just got married to russian mail order brides last christmas when the latest fighter jet was being tested.
lol


small communities can have some pretty whacky personal relationship issues.
specially if they are a bit isolated and have people with autistic traites that accompany their speciality.
maybe they all came down with an STD from some crazy group sex party they were having every week.
maybe there was a illigitimate child with multi claims of parenthood all being inside the same community with some lapse documentation of expense accounts.


maybe the lead professor who held the over all contract got dissed by someone in the govt and he/she told them to shove it and walked off threatening to go and talk to the news papers.

most likely...
maybe the person in the govt who over looks the entire site(doesnt work on the site but sits in an office hundreds of miles away) has been done for fraud in the millions so they have to close down everything even though it has nothing to do with them until they have investigated all the staff underneath the person caught.

my guess is its most likely some type of personal issue of complicated relationships and possibly also including fraud or only fraud by the over sight department and involving probably millions.
they probably were supposed to have an entirely new observatory sitting there on the books but the money has been spent on prostitutes & drugs by some office worker.

these are al guesses.
the statistical most likely is big scale fraud by someone who looks after the department and has no physical contact with the site.

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This is the latest 

Forrest service uses poisons and some animal rites loonys have been known to do some pretty crazy stuff.


maybe the new presidencey which has cut funding has said it is ok to send poison through the mail system which has triggered a shut down.

Update:

http://www.aura-astronomy.org/news/news.asp?newsID=389

"AURA has been cooperating with an on-going law enforcement investigation of criminal activity that occurred at Sacramento Peak. During this time, we became concerned that a suspect in the investigation potentially posed a threat to the safety of local staff and residents. For this reason, AURA temporarily vacated the facility and ceased science activities at this location.

The decision to vacate was based on the logistical challenges associated with protecting personnel at such a remote location, and the need for expeditious response to the potential threat. AURA determined that moving the small number of on-site staff and residents off the mountain was the most prudent and effective action to ensure their safety."