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A New Mexico observatory that was temporarily closed due to an undisclosed security issue is expected to reopen on Monday after its closure sparked many theories, officials said.
The Solar Sunspot Observatory, located near the Sacramento Mountains, no longer faces a threat to the safety of staff, said Sunday the Association of Astronomical Research Universities (AURA). The installation was closed since September 6th.
"Given the importance of the advertising generated by the temporary closure and the expectation of an unusual number of visitors to the site, we are temporarily engaging a security service while the installation returns to a normal work environment. "Says the release.
We do not know what the threat to the security of the observatory was. The FBI has referred all questions to the association.
"We recognize that the lack of communication during the vacancy was a concern and frustrating for some. However, our desire to provide additional information had to be weighed against the risk that, if it was widespread at the time, the news would alert the suspect and hinder the police investigation. It was a risk we could not take, "officials said.
The temporary closure and the FBI reports involved triggered wild speculation about the reason.
Otero County Sheriff, Benny House, told the Alamogordo Daily News that the sheriff's office had been invited to stay there and had mentioned that the FBI was involved.
"The FBI refuses to tell us what's going on," House told the newspaper. "We have people there (at Sunspot) who have asked us to stay on hold while they are evacuated. Nobody would really explain why. The FBI was up there. What was their purpose, no one will say. "
House said there were many unanswered questions about the closure of Sunspot.
"But for the FBI to intervene so quickly and be so discreet about it, there were a lot of things going on there," House told the paper. "There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a group of people around the antennas and work crews on the towers, but no one told us anything.
Security guards at Red Rock Security monitored the perimeter of the observatory last week because of the large influx of visitors since the announcement of the closure of the facility, according to the daily Alamogordo. A guard told the newspaper that at least 35 people had arrived on Friday.
The authorities evacuated all employees from the site, including four from New Mexico State University. According to the newspaper, about ten residents around the site were evacuated and the US postal services decided to evacuate their employees.
The Sunspot Solar Observatory is located at the peak of Sacramento Peak and overlooks the Tularosa Basin, which includes the city of Alamogordo, Holloman Air Force Base, the White Sands Missile and the White Sands National Monument. .
The telescope at the observatory was originally built by the US Air Force and then transferred to the National Solar Observatory. The unique telescope produces some of the clearest images of the sun available in the world.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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