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Stop sign and yellow strip of the crime scene at the entrance to the Solar Observatory sunspots. Image via Dylan Taylor-Lehman / Daily News.
Everyone loves a good mystery, and there is a very curious is happening in New Mexico right now. On Thursday, Sept. 6, the Sunspot Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, and the nearby US Postal Service (USPS) were suddenly closed and evacuated. This has been reported for "security reasons", but no details have been provided, and has not yet been released at the time of writing. The sunspot is located on Sacramento Peak – Lincoln National Forest specifically, in Otero County.
On KVIA, Shari Lifson, spokesperson for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) said:
We decided to temporarily leave this installation as a precautionary measure. And we are working with the relevant authorities on this issue.
She also added, for Alamogordo Daily News:
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which manages the facility, is currently dealing with a security problem. We decided to leave the facility at that time as a precautionary measure. It was our decision to evacuate the facility.
Dunn's solar telescope at the solar sunspot observatory. Image through solar observatory sunspots.
A statement on the Observatory's website currently states:
On Thursday, September 6, AURA made the decision to temporarily close Sunspot. The solar sunspot observatory continues to work closely with AURA to allow us to reopen as quickly as possible. With the enthusiasm that this closure has generated, we hope that you will come to visit us when we reopen and that we will see for you the services we offer in terms of scientific and public awareness in heliophysics. If you have any questions about the science we are doing at the telescope, or about the awareness we provide through our visitor center, please contact our director, Dr. McAteer ([email protected]).
Director of solar sunspot observatory James McAteer also said:
Last Thursday, AURA phoned us in the morning to tell us that they were temporarily evacuating the site and asked us to evacuate our people. So, I called our people and asked them to leave in a very sensitive and quiet way and lock everything up. We left from there since Thursday morning.
An aerial view of the facility on Sacramento Peak. Image via the National Science Foundation.
The solar sunspot observatory is part of the network of the national solar observatory and is maintained by AURA. The observatory uses the Dunn Solar Telescope, which captures some of the highest resolution images and other sun data anywhere in the world. The Apache Point Observatory (APO), located about a kilometer and a half from the Sunspot Solar Observatory, is still operational and has not been closed.
The incident has of course sparked a lot of speculation as to what is happening, but with few details available, it's hard to say anything for sure. he Is appear to be a real event, given the coverage of local news and notices on official websites. Not surprisingly, he goes around the conspiracy forums. Theories have ranged from a mercury storage leak to foreign contact. The town of Sunspot itself is very small and every 12 to 15 inhabitants were evacuated, as well as four observatory employees, five or six AURA employees and post office employees (number unknown).
What makes this intriguing is the participation of the FBI. According to sheriff Benny House of Otero:
The FBI refuses to tell us what's going on. We have people there (at Sunspot) who have asked us to wait while they are evacuated. Nobody would really explain why. The FBI was up there. What was their purpose, no one will say. But for the FBI to be involved so quickly and so discreetly, there were a lot of things going on there. There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a group of people around the antennas and work crews on the towers, but no one told us anything.
Another aerial view, showing the location of the observatory and the post office. Image via Goodle Earth.
House wants to know why the FBI asked the local judicial authorities to help with the evacuation, but refused to tell them what it was:
They wanted us to go up there to help with the evacuation, but nobody would tell us anything. We went up there and everything was fine. There was no threat. Nobody would identify specific threat. We dragged a little while then we left. No reason for us to be there. Nobody will tell us what we are supposed to watch.
According to Rod Spurgeon, spokesman for the USPS:
At this moment, we are told that they have temporarily evacuated the area. We have not been told why or when it expires.
As of today, September 13, 2018, the observatory remains closed. As Lifson told Alamogordo Daily News:
Nothing has changed since last week.
The center of astronomy and visiting sunspots. Image through solar observatory sunspots.
So what has really happened? Some of the most plausible theories have included some sort of espionage or an attempt by a country or a hostile group (considering reports from people working on antennas and towers), a possible terrorist plot or accident involving mercury stored under the facility. But would a mercury spill require the FBI to be involved? The conspiracy theories range from a major solar flare event to extraterrestrials. A new article on The war zone pleads for espionage. The observatory is also quite close to Holloman air base and the White Sands missile chain, which gives credibility to this possibility.
As reported in Alamogordo Daily News on September 13, 2018, the cause of the closure was do not a spill of mercury. According to McAteer:
There is no mercury incident. It's a completely different set of protocols that would not have involved locking all the doors. We have a very regular maintenance routine. There is no need to worry about that.
A statement allegedly from an astronomer, published on Reddit today, indicates that an AURA announcement will be available soon. In the meantime, the rumor will continue to turn.
In summary: Something unusual happened at Sunspot's solar observatory, which also affects the surrounding area, but we still do not know what it is. Probably there is a down-to-earth explanation, whether it is harmful or not, but the story has certainly attracted a lot of attention and speculation. I hope that we will soon hear the competent authorities.
Via Alamogordo Daily News and KVIA
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