The Alamogordo Daily News reports:
The Sunspot Observatory is temporarily closed due to a security issue at the facility that's located 17 miles south of Cloudcroft in the Sacramento Mountains Friday, an Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) spokeswoman Shari Lifson said.
"The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy who manages the facility is addressing a security issue at this time," Lifson said. "We have decided to vacate the facility at this time as precautionary measure. It was our decision to evacuate the facility." She said she cannot comment on the specifics of the security issue.
[...] Otero County Sheriff Benny House said the Otero County Sheriff's Office was asked to standby. "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] is refusing to tell us what's going on," House said. "We've got people up there (at Sunspot) that requested us to standby while they evacuate it. Nobody would really elaborate on any of the circumstances as to why. The FBI were up there. What their purpose was nobody will say."
He said he has a lot of unanswered questions about what occurred at Sunspot. "But for the FBI to get involved that quick and be so secretive about it, there was a lot of stuff going on up there," House said. "There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a bunch of people around antennas and work crews on towers but nobody would tell us anything."
Why would the FBI order a sunspot research facility closed, but be unable (or unwilling) to give a reason?
Also at Popular Mechanics, Vice, and Gizmodo.
Related Stories
On September 6th, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) made the decision to temporarily vacate the Sunspot Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico as a precautionary measure while addressing a security issue. The facility closed down in an orderly fashion and is now re-opening. The residents that vacated their homes will be returning to the site, and all employees will return to work this week.
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.
http://www.aura-astronomy.org/news/news.asp?newsID=389
Reason Behind Sunspot Observatory Closure According to Court Documents
A federal search warrant reveals that Sunspot Solar Observatory was shut down as FBI agents conducted computer forensic searches for child pornography.
The source of child pornography was traced to an IP address used at the observatory and a source within the building observed a computer with "not good" images on it, the warrant states.
An investigation by the FBI revealed that a janitor is the main suspect in the search, however he has not been charged with a crime even though his name is on the warrant.
The warrant states the suspect would use the observatory Wifi and a personal laptop to download the child pornography.
A limited number of people have access to the observatory from dusk until dawn, which helped narrow their search.
The observatory in the mountains of southern New Mexico had been closed since Sept. 6 because of an undisclosed security concern, but reopened on Monday.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:58PM (6 children)
The most likely rumor that I have heard was that a missile test in the area with some secret stuff onboard crashed.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:42PM (4 children)
Maybe it was just a weather balloon.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 5, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 14 2018, @01:03AM (3 children)
I want to believe.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @01:26AM (2 children)
The truth is out there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Fluffeh on Friday September 14 2018, @04:04AM (1 child)
The X-Files? That's my favorite documentary!
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Friday September 14 2018, @06:31AM
Or so you want to believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @12:02PM
Pull the NOTAMs for Holloman AFB they are doing heavy construction around the runways installing or removing god knows what probably involving the national RADAR testing facility at that site. Once its all under radomes and outta sight it'll be all good?
Perhaps the reason all the hiking paths and stuff like that nearby but within sight of Holloman are being ignored is some academic from China Fs around with 10 tons of monitoring gear at an observatory that might or might not be pointed at Holloman, and "of course" thats normal for academics to be unmonitored on a research lab doing god knows what with mysterious equipment, whereas hauling all that radar monitoring crap to an observation deck along a hiking trail would be severe WTF for all passers-by.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DutchUncle on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:59PM (7 children)
Maybe this kind of observatory would notice incoming alien ships. Just sayin'.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:22PM
Reminiscent of Anathem. Have the secular authorities closed any other observatories?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:22PM (2 children)
Don't use weasel words like "maybe". Simply say: This observatory has the ability to notice alien ships. There is one inbound and the public is being protected by the enforcers. Otherwise, the panic is simply too much to handle. It is always better to prevent than to mob-up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @08:02AM
Perhaps there might be a possibility of up to 50 percent or more for the observatory to detect an anomaly that is seemingly of extraterrestrial origin and which may possess characteristics not unlike an alien ship if such a thing were to exist.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Friday September 14 2018, @01:52PM
I'm sorry, I am not programmed to respond in that area. Oops, I mean, I am not authorized to make public comments regarding this subject.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday September 14 2018, @08:33AM (1 child)
If no others observatories were affected, I would concentrate on what that one is observing, the sun and/or some particular section of the em spectrum.
I would wager that some peculiar events regarding the sun are even more vitally important than alien spaceships.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1) by DeVilla on Saturday September 15 2018, @03:25PM
I thought I heard the post office in the area was also evacuated. If so, I would suspect this has to do with something the went to or from the observatory by mail.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @12:02PM
More likely a massive solar flare. Other than all the other solar observatories that haven't been closed, its almost plausible.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:00PM (4 children)
Send Kleenex!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:04PM (1 child)
This is clearly the MIB. USAF nowhere to be found.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:06PM
That's spelled TMB!
;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Friday September 14 2018, @09:14AM (1 child)
Of course the Stargate was found.
And remember, the activity of sunspots and solar flares allow the stargate to be used for time travel [wikia.com].
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @11:24PM
also remember, the evil russians ALWAYS have the other one
(Score: 4, Funny) by jmorris on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:02PM (6 children)
Insert meme of that guy with the weird hair here captioned "I'm not saying its aliens.."
The problem is now in the Crazy Years we see these inexplicable stories weekly, they come, we all make jokes and they fade away and the mystery remains.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:03PM (5 children)
"Insert meme of that guy with the weird hair "
Carrot-top?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:11PM (2 children)
Giorgio A. Tsoukalos
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ancient-aliens [knowyourmeme.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:16PM
Thanks. I knew it was some show of that sort, where they looked at mysteries and always ended up with aliens as the answer. The meme is popular enough I knew about it without having actually watched the show so didn't know the name of it.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:16PM
Love that guy, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 14 2018, @01:05AM (1 child)
Beaker [wikipedia.org].
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @03:14PM
Nah,
When Beaker opens his mouth, whatever comes out makes way more sense than anything ever uttered by Tsoukalos...
(Score: 5, Touché) by bob_super on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:08PM (8 children)
Someone was mocked for observing the sun without his protective glasses.
Anyone trying to observe the sun with the appropriate protections, or quantifying the activity of the sun, is therefore an evil librul socialist who has to be stopped.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:08PM (6 children)
If there is ever a straw shortage, leftwing comedy will be doomed!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:53PM (5 children)
And the rightwing cows will starve.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 14 2018, @12:43AM (1 child)
No worries there. Cows don't eat straw, they eat hay. Straw is what you throw on the floor for the cows to piss on.
Oh - wait. You've been eating the straw? That may explain a few things . . .
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Friday September 14 2018, @01:27AM
More like he's been inhaling the straw... ;)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Fluffeh on Friday September 14 2018, @04:08AM (2 children)
FFS, I swear, this site should come with a blurb on the front page -
Warning - this site can turn a story about an observatory into a partisan Republicans Vs Democrats issue without breaking a sweat!
(Score: 3, Funny) by deimtee on Friday September 14 2018, @08:16AM
Ya must be a librul if ya'll need a dang trigger warning.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 14 2018, @09:40AM
That should be all the trigger warning a reasonable person needs.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by DECbot on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:13PM
And here I thought the State of California had the foresight to ban viewing the sun, directly or indirectly, because it is known to create cancer and blindness. And thus, they sent in the FBI to close the observatory to restrict, investigate, and prevent such an illegal act.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:13PM
Perhaps it's because professional solar observatories have narrowband filters that can discern the true nature of Cheetoh.
A birefringent polarizing monochromator is made of a stack of either optically-pure quartz or calcite. In between each piece of stone is a Polaroid filter. The stone is very thick on one end, then half as thick on the other side of the first polarizer, and they tell two friends and they tell two friends.
They are very difficult to make and so fiendishly expensive. There was one on Skylab, with the spare given to Caltech for the Big Bear Solar Observatory. (It's now owned by the New Jersey Institute of Technology.)
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by krishnoid on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:23PM
I bet they just needed more housing for detainees crossing the border or waiting for deportation. No, wait a sec ... space force ... confiscated astronomical observatory ... recently increased ICE funding ... FBI involvement -- Trump marathoned all the Men in Black movies over the weekend and is starting one up in the good old U S of A!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:23PM (16 children)
I heard about this from the Q discussions after the exodus to voat but couldn't really verify it. Is "Alamogordo Daily News" a reliable source?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:33PM (1 child)
Don't be a moron, please. It's reported at other news outlets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:45PM
Reported or repeated? I did see it repeated...
(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:01PM (10 children)
It is owned by USA Today so it is FakeNews like the rest of the media. But the secret to FakeNews isn't in reporting entirely fabricated events, it is in selecting which ones are suitable for advancing The Narrative, applying the proper spin to them to maximize their utility and memory holing the ones that aren't. But a local paper pretty has to cover an event so unusual that all of the locals would know it happened and realize their paper is useless if they didn't post a story about it.
So it is probably safe to assume that the account in that paper is at least mostly correct, although there is almost certainly at least one or more factual inaccuracies due to malice of incompetence and if the government wanted some fact omitted it would be... unless it could somehow be used to hurt Trump or another Republican in the upcoming midterms. So the observatory was almost certainly cleared out by a government agency for reasons unstated. Anything more may or may not be accurate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:13PM (9 children)
How did you convince yourself this "Alamogordo Daily News" site existed and provided a reliable news service before this event?
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:37PM (8 children)
Google has 31,300 hits on the site. If it is a hoax somebody expended some effort.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:52PM (7 children)
I dont get how "number of google hits" maps to the accuracy of the original source.
Lets say there is one local news site who was ok until this planted story. How would your method detect it?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:54PM (6 children)
If it fits him, then it's true. It's just as simple as that, don't try to find meaning where is none.
E.g. in this case, suddenly, Google is no longer a bastion of liberalism, full of SJW, it's a reliable source and the number of hits is a good metric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @12:02AM
Yea I saw the same from 'deathmonkey" a few days ago. It wouldnt surprise me if those accounts were run by the same person.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday September 14 2018, @12:14AM (4 children)
Don't read more into what I say than what I say. I am pretty good at spotting fake / parody sites, this one doesn't look like one of them. But I admit I could be wrong, not interested enough to do a deep forensic dive on a weird news story. What I am saying is that a site with 30K pages indexed in Google over a fair range of dates probably ain't some 4chan larper having a joke at the Internet's expense. And had the kiddies hacked a real newspaper's site and inserted the story I'd expect that in the days this story has been working its way around the Internet that USA Today would have pulled it by now. USA Today is a media company after all, one expects they have minimal competence. Evil, but competent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @01:14AM (2 children)
Fair enough to the first half, I don't get the credulity regarding the usatoday for the second half.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday September 14 2018, @01:59AM (1 child)
The story has been passed around for several days and is currently linked by both DrudgeReport and Zerohedge, USA Today would know by now they had a problem and fixed a hack. At least one would hope, but this is Clown World. One thing is probable, the uncertain ending. Got about as much chance of ever getting the real story here as the Vegas shooter's motive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:49AM
Not real news until I see it featured on The Onion!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @12:40AM
"Just forget what I said in the past, here and now is this the shiny mirror I want you to look at".
I'm afraid it doesn't work this way.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:58PM (2 children)
haha, any non-crazy users starting to see a pattern? Q and voat lovers? Jmorris hops right on board. Quality stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:03PM
Yep, there is a definite pattern here.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday September 14 2018, @02:06AM
QAnon is "real" in only one limited sense. Somebody discovered a way to weaponize and focus the autism of [49]chan into a potent research machine. Seriously doubt Q is actually plugged into the DC power structure, the IC or the Trump inner circle but seems to know a lot, enough to make good educated guesses that are close enough that with the fortune teller fuzzing he uses that he hasn't blown the game entirely yet. Meanwhile he tells the 4chan peeps they are important, their unique skills needed and gives them a mighty purpose; they seem to be either onboard with that or at least enjoying the game enough to keep digging for him.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by exaeta on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:51PM (15 children)
A few things first.
The facility was shut down by the FBI at the request of the owners.
The people wondering about the mysterious closure are the local law enforcement, not the owners.
Possibilities?
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:08PM
Why exactly were they digging? Was it to install several new varieties of bathrooms for millennial employees? If so, why was the post office closed? Are any of the mail carriers millennials?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:39PM
This is some great brainstorming. Just want you to know people appreciate it.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fyngyrz on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:09PM
I would have given you another "interesting" mod except for:
Yes, because we know life can't possibly exist on planets, and even if it could, there's no way to get into space, and even there was a way to get into space, computers and automation are impossible, and even if they were possible, none of the non-existent planetary life that can't get into space with #fakenews automation would ever think of such a thing.
So there's that.
OTOH, I would have been okay with "but another observatory probably would have spotted such a thing if that was the issue, so it probably isn't the issue."
I now return you to your regularly scheduled ground nutter agenda*. :)
*and for the record, I'm leaning towards "envelope of powder" and/or "bomb threat."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:25PM (1 child)
"Undetonated warhead ... I think this is the most likely explanation."
-
BULLSHIT.
If an unexploded warhead was the problem, you'd see EOD personnel on site.
Better luck next time, smart boy.
(Score: 1) by exaeta on Friday September 14 2018, @04:58AM
I think that doesn't rule it out. Seeing as FBI presence doesn't rule out EOD presence. They could, you know, both respond to the issue?
FBI shoos everyone away and keeps people out, while EOD cleans up a mess?
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 4, Funny) by DECbot on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:25PM
You left out the one obvious possibility: Russians.
The FBI commandeered the observatory to view and investigate the sabotage on the International Space Station, which will conclude in allegations that Russia did it.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:58PM (4 children)
Or they found a large underground cavern (possibly Cold War related or dungeon full of bodies) when digging down for whatever reason. The cavern may extend towards the post office and may be prone or ready to collapse (possibly due to subsidence from the digging).
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @11:47AM (3 children)
Holloman AFB is close so no idea why you'd intentionally put it under an existing observatory. And yes the observatory was founded and in use at the dawn of the cold war, its unlikely cold war nuclear training flights accidentally dropped a H-bomb under the telescope foundation and they finally got around to noticing.
Its remotely possible they're pencil whipping something that was installed there in 1960 and forgotten about, perhaps a classified radar monitor station, and once they rip the monitoring gear out they can pencil whip the decommissioning paperwork and everything can go back to normal. Pretty unlikely, but smells very likely military. The guy who was assigned the task of declassifying the project signed off in the 70s and died in the 90s so they "can't" pencil whip it; I could see it as realistic fiction. Some Chinese national "astronomer" working for the uni stationed at the scope site sees some rusty half century old thing, tweets his family back home or sneaks a pix for good boy points back home, FBI intercepts, someone in .mil does the ohshit.jpg face, next thing you know there's crime scene tape up and bulldozers everywhere until some mysterious box thats been locked and forgotten about since 1960 disappears.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday September 14 2018, @09:05PM (2 children)
Close, but it's more likely they were looking for something relatively new that was "placed" at Sunspot by someone. It's a nice high place with line of sight to both Holloman and White Sands Missile Range. And it gives absolutely iron clad scientific reasons for a given foreign national to be there on a regular basis.
Remember, the FBI does counterintel work.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @09:49PM
I agree with you completely, with a side dish of it had to be at an observatory because the general public is used to seeing inexplicable equipment observing things at an observatory; which is why this all didn't go down at some random hiking trail or parking lot.
(Score: 1) by exaeta on Monday September 17 2018, @01:20AM
This actually might make the most sense of any explanation so far.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday September 14 2018, @01:01AM
So aliens then?
Got it.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 14 2018, @01:08AM
Do you know the owners personally?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:41AM
Drug growers.
Up in the mountains? Far from everyone? I'm not sure what the terrain looks like, but you hear stories of drug cultivators or organized drug groups in this sort of area. It's possible the FBI/DEA is conducting a raid. If they're evacuating local-by's, it could genuinely be to keep them out of harm's way until they can hunt everyone down.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Friday September 14 2018, @01:49PM
No, any aliens that made it here would have to be fairly intelligent. Unless maybe they were just the chimp-equivalent test subjects locked into the capsule by the intelligent folks back home? Lots of opportunities for misunderstanding here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:59PM (4 children)
We finally found them.
( 2 points for who gets the reference )
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:05PM (1 child)
I don't get it. But I did find this fun article:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/6973268/women-sex-with-spirits-ghosts/ [thesun.co.uk]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday September 14 2018, @01:06AM
Thanks for linking that. A great laugh.
As an aside, the loony in the piece is called Amethyst, which is the same name as a girl I had a fling with when I was a young man. She was a total loony also.
Only two data points, but there is a trend.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:18PM (1 child)
Sundiver by David Brin
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:20PM
Please excuse me as I reply to myself...
Here's the link to the wikipedia article: Sundiver [wikipedia.org]
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @01:38AM
Perhaps some super secret spy satellite passed between the observatory's cameras and the sun and they're purging the hard drives.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @05:12AM (3 children)
Facilities like that have on hand fisionable nuclear material that is used in scientific instruments.
They are required by law to account for that material down to the mg.
The observatory is closed, so is the post office. No one is talking.
The observatory contacted the FBI not the other way around.
The only thing that could cause that especially with FBI involvement is if the facility was missing nuclear material and probably a lot of it.
There were probably also elevated levels of radiation at the post office, if someone mailed the material.
I'm not saying it's not aliens, this is New Mexico and Alamogordo is half way between Roswell and JPL at White Sands.
But if it is, perhaps they needed the materials to fuel their spaceship.
Otherwise, maybe someone is preparing to build a dirty bomb?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday September 14 2018, @09:33AM (1 child)
> Facilities like that have on hand fisionable nuclear material that is used in scientific instruments.
Do they?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday September 14 2018, @11:58AM
Even post 9/11 there used to be (or still is?) a web search function for first responders etc to declare nuclear sources. My local hospital about 5 blocks away has/had all kinds of interesting stuff in the radiology / oncology department. In a sense none of this is secret much like no one can look up an individual schoolchild but knowing today is a school day you can glance at a map to see concentrations of where school children are almost certainly located (plus or minus field trips, I guess).
The closest I can find is:
https://www.nrc.gov/materials/miau/acad-toolkit.html [nrc.gov]
but thats not adequate. It would be simple to pull the safety records for first responders / EPA / MSDS type stuff for the observatory site and see whats there.
Unfortunately any hospital radiology department in the entire country or any oil well "downhole" services company on the planet or any food irradiation service has better "stuff" thats likely easier to steal. And I can't think of a physics or engineering reason to have "fun stuff" at a solar research lab. MAYBE just maybe to monitor the famous mercury bearing thingies the site has (had?) they use gamma based thickness sensors.
Also a little problem in that what little coverage has leaked indicates government agents walking around with RDF antennas; not wearing MOPP suits or similar protective gear. Although if you had people walking around in MOPP suits inside a contaminated building, great cover could be provided by walking around with wifi monitoring gear and some laptops outside the contaminated area in front of cameras. Or maybe some poor bastard walking around the site with an antenna is merely trying to provide connectivity for the agents on site and it has nothing to do with the investigation other than internal support.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday September 14 2018, @03:42PM
I'm curious about this. They are working on next-gen telescope technology at this facility, but imaging an alpha or beta source is kind of useless. A gamma source, e.g. Caesium-137, might be useful for testing a gamma detector, but those don't make it through the atmosphere. (or we'd be dead.)
Do you have a source that indicates this?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @11:40AM
Anyone got an email for Wonko the Sane [wikia.com]?
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Friday September 14 2018, @03:23PM (1 child)
Could it have unintentionally imaged an NRO satellite transiting the Sun? They are quite picky about pictures of those.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Friday September 14 2018, @08:54PM
No. The image would be too small to pick out on the solar disc. And if so, why would they close the post office and be working on the comm towers?
Think more mundanely.
(i.e. Look at the map, and think about what a nice high place like Sunspot or Apache point would have line of sight to. Added bonus, it has an absolutely iron clad scientific reason for various nationalities of foreign nationals to be there.)