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FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory (popularmechanics.com)
Alien conspiracy theories are swirling after an observatory in New Mexico has been unexpectedly closed due to an unnamed "security issue," prompting evacuations and a visit from the FBI. "The Sunspot Observatory is now currently closed to both staff and the public, with no word on why or when it will be open again," reports Popular Mechanics. From the report: "We have decided to vacate the facility at this time as precautionary measure," said spokesperson Shari Lifson to the Alomogordo Daily News. "The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy who manages the facility is addressing a security issue at this time." Lifson said that the facility was first evacuated on September 6 and has remained closed since then. According to Lifson, the observatory has no date for reopening yet.
As part of the investigation into the security issue, the observatory has contacted the FBI, which has been reported on the scene with multiple agents and a Blackhawk helicopter. According to local sheriff Benny House, the agency has been working with local law enforcement but refuses to share any details. The sheriff speculated that the evacuation could be due to some kind of threat made against the facility or its staff, but expressed confusion as to why local police would be left out of the loop. "If that's the case, why didn't they call us and let us deal with it?" he said. "I don't know why the FBI would get involved so quick and not tell us anything."
UPDATE (9/22/18): A warrant application filed in the case suggests the closure involved an FBI investigation into child pornography.
As part of the investigation into the security issue, the observatory has contacted the FBI, which has been reported on the scene with multiple agents and a Blackhawk helicopter. According to local sheriff Benny House, the agency has been working with local law enforcement but refuses to share any details. The sheriff speculated that the evacuation could be due to some kind of threat made against the facility or its staff, but expressed confusion as to why local police would be left out of the loop. "If that's the case, why didn't they call us and let us deal with it?" he said. "I don't know why the FBI would get involved so quick and not tell us anything."
UPDATE (9/22/18): A warrant application filed in the case suggests the closure involved an FBI investigation into child pornography.
So the Andromeda strain is here.....
for some strange reason, I loved that movie as a kid. On the other hand, that might explain a lot nowadays...
bickerdyke
The FBI is just doing this to get the conspiracy nuts to focus their attention on something minor while they do something else that they do not want people to know about.
(Or they share my sense of humour, and are doing this just to mess with crazy people)
Death has been proven to be 99% fatal in lab rats.
Yea, they were running out of show ideas and were tired of talking about the Pyramids, so they got proactive and went out there and created their own news.
Note also that at least some the Observatory staff are in the loop having seemingly called in the FBI in the first place, but the local police are not. That's pushing me more towards with the epsionage angle too, possibly as a result of the staff having discovered and identified the most likely purpose of some additional equipment on the tower and knowing that would fall under the FBI's jurisdiction. Post Office angle is a bit of a puzzle, but maybe something to do with data exfiltration?
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
Seems to be about 50km away, googling the formula SquareRoot(height above surface / 6.752) = visible distance to horizon (distance in KM, height in cm)
So about 1688 metres above sea level to see that dar, and Apache Point is 2788m, so its high enough.
But your talking 50km zoom, like this guys 40km zoom, which clearly cannot be 40km because the horizon would be only about 5km away, he's just not high enough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=94&v=l118uREKNZo
Meh. Same as this one, claims 50km (Croydon to Wimbledon stadium is only about 6km):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAozLcvQdfw
Nah.
It'll be a bomb threat from a religious nutter against a science target. i.e. Global warming isn't real, ergo scientists are crisis actors, or some such bull shit mental insanity
Who would put surveillance equipment in a solar observatory when its findings are basically public anyway?
That doesn't make a lot of sense.
> The sane response to that would be to send a geek with a screwdriver to unmount it, and have it analysed in a lab. Not to lock everything down, and send a Blackhawk.
No, because tampering with evidence in what may become a serious federal investigation may get you into even more trouble.
If this hypothesis is correct, then it makes sense that government spooks would be all over it; They want to secure the device ASAP, keep everyone without adequate security clearance away, and keep the details as secret as possible for as long as possible. Nothing good can come from letting a potential enemy/spy learn about what you may or may not know.
=Smidge=
I believe this has all been planned in advance:
NMSU - SSOC Transition Plan
There's probably less to this story than the conspiracy theorists would like to believe.
The telescope sits on a liquid mercury bearing. From the linked document (p8):
Further, the TCS contains significant risk in its older server motors, mercury float bearings, and control software. Regular inspection and
maintenance is key to the longevity of the TCS. Fully documenting maintenance and risk, and implementing upgrades greatly reduces the risk associated with the TCS. As such, the telescope will be less expensive to operate, and much less liable to catastrophic failure. At minimum, the SSOC will require one telescope control engineer ready to assume full control and maintenance of the TCS in Oct 2018.
So a mercury spill could be quite hazardous, and if you were of such a mind, that large amount of mercury could be an inviting target to steal.