The remote solar observatory remains closed after a mysterious evacuation | Science

No one knows very well what is happening at the Solar Sunspot Observatory in New Mexico, which was quickly and mysteriously evacuated on September 6 in the midst of reports from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and which remained closed. The director of the mountain site, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), today issued a statement in which he says that the observatory "will remain closed until new order because of a permanent security problem ".

As a result of the closure, Sheriff Benny House of Otero County declared to the Alamogordo Daily News: "The FBI was up there. What was their purpose, no one will say. The employees of the establishment are similarly in the dark. "We have absolutely no idea what's going on," says Alisdair Davey, data center researcher at the National Solar Observatory (NSO). "Like nothing, which in itself is just strange." Messages left at the FBI office in Albuquerque were not returned.

AURA manages the site for NSO, a group funded by the National Science Foundation. The State University of New Mexico (NMSU) of Las Cruces is leading the consortium, which includes the national NGO and other universities, which operates the Dunn Solar Telescope, which conducts routine observations of the sun used by scientists around the world.

All the buildings on the site were closed and staff of about 12 people were sent home, says James McAteer, director of the Sunspot program and NMSU astronomer in Las Cruces. According to him, the shutdown events are not unusual because the facilities located at the top of a mountain can be shut down due to leaking sewage, power lines fallen to the ground or storms of snow. But the observatory at Apache Point, located slightly lower on the same mountain, remains open.

The United States Postal Service (USPS), which has a small office on the same site as Sunspot, which mainly handles mailings for the observatory, was also closed, but office spokesmen say the closure of the post office is accessory. "No matter what happens there, it has nothing to do with us," says Rod Spurgeon, USPS spokesman for the New Mexico region. Spurgeon downplayed the idea that the incident could involve any kind of biological risk or bioterror. "I did not hear about it like that," he says. Liz Davis, an information officer at the US Postal Inspection Service, who is responsible for law enforcement at the USPS, confirms that there is "no criminal activity , what the Postal Inspection Service will be facing ".

The sunspot observatory on Sacramento Peak overlooks Holloman Air Force Base and an observer could potentially see the US Army White Sands Missile Test Zone. This raised questions about possible spying. "New Mexico is a national security science center, and for that reason, it has also been a prime location for foreign espionage," says Steven Aftergood, project director of the Federation of American Scientists. . "Spies go where the secrets are and there are a lot of secrets in New Mexico."

But, according to Aftergood, a solar observatory might not be the best place to conduct such an activity. "I imagine that most or all of its sensors are pointing upward." He wonders if anyone, at the sunspot observatory, inadvertently detected a satellite or a classified transmission, triggering shutdown.

This could also explain why the facility has been closed for so long, according to Mr. Aftergood; it may take time to interview all relevant staff members, sign confidentiality agreements and conduct background investigations to ensure they are not foreign agents.

Although the real nature of the security problem is still unresolved, the discreetness of the authorities only increases the interest. "The mystery is more intriguing than what the final explanation is likely to be," says Aftergood.