from the Why-couldn't-they-say-that-before? dept.
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
Related Stories
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.
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: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Monday September 17 2018, @03:42PM (24 children)
Sure, that statement will mollify the journalists, conspiracy theorists, and dank memers.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by ikanreed on Monday September 17 2018, @03:50PM (11 children)
Literally nothing in the world mollifies conspiracy theorists. That's practically their defining characteristic: evidence and arguments against the conspiracy are, in fact, more conspiracy.
As to memers: I think I'm only concerned about the opinions of the sapient. Merely responding to their environment and repeating back everything they hear is more parrot than human.
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday September 17 2018, @04:51PM (7 children)
I have no idea where that leaves the few that actually are on to something, but I suspect it involves those black helicopters that you occassionally see overhead...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:59PM (5 children)
Reminds me of GR and dark matter/energy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:44PM (4 children)
Well, you clearly don't understand anything about GR if that's what you get out of it because that's one of the best-tested models of all time. When you're verifying predictions today that were made many decades ago because only now you have the precision to make the measurements, that's a pretty damn impressive theory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:49PM (3 children)
Yep, the predictions are all perfect (if you allow for otherwise undetectable matter anywhere the predictions are wrong)... how can anyone say this seriously?
The fact is there is still zero evidence for dark matter besides GR making the wrong predictions. ZERO, and its not for lack of trying.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Monday September 17 2018, @09:56PM (2 children)
You're correct. There is no such thing as dark matter. The actual solution is simple, Hawkins Radiation emits more mass than astrophysicist are ready to admit.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:20PM (1 child)
I woudln't have the slightest clue about if your favorite explanation is correct. But, make a prediction about something and then we can see.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:02PM
nothing to see here, just your ol' interstellar squid feasting off some solar prominence-to-be before warping to better, less radioactive pastures. suns with orbiting planets having active neutron generation mechanisms don't make for tasty meals, it is understood ...
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday September 17 2018, @05:07PM
Re black helicopters: I was gassing up by the airport this morning and saw an osprey take off(not VTOL, just off a runway).
Because I have a half-remembered news story that they're deathtraps and were discontinued, I'm going to conclude that it was a secret government organization intent on impairing my god-given right to order chicken sandwiches from sheetz for breakfast. They're no doubt now hovering out of sight watching me eat my lunch I brought from home.
(okay, maybe I just saw something strange and wanted to talk about it)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:49PM (1 child)
Sorry to the one, but you meant sentient, right? Just fits better. Sorry.
(Score: 4, Informative) by ikanreed on Monday September 17 2018, @05:53PM
I recently learned the distinction between sentient(as it's commonly used) and sentient(psychological jargon) and shied away from it.
So, sentient as we commonly understand it means "intelligent and self-aware", but in psychology, the scientific meaning is just "possesses senses" which is exactly what I didn't want to say. So I chose the less common, but technically accurate term sapient.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by urza9814 on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:25PM
The problem is that this is literally a conspiracy regardless of the facts. Because there must be some group of people who know what actually happened, and they must be working together to keep that information out of the media. That, by definition, is a conspiracy. The only alternative to "conspiracy theories" is that every single person involved is completely incompetent and literally doesn't have any idea what they're doing up there. Doesn't seem very plausible.
So by definition, any attempt to battle a conspiracy theory generally means proposing an alternative conspiracy theory.
That's all a bit obvious of course, but consider where that gets us in a situation like in TFA. The people who officially know what happened won't say, they won't provide any evidence to support THEIR conspiracy theory, but they expect us all to blindly accept it. Meanwhile, the "conspiracy theory" folks are out there presenting their own "evidence", which doesn't have to be all that convincing to be more compelling that the absolutely nothing that the official theory has put forward. Why should we criticize people for gravitating towards the theories that are actually supported by some amount of evidence?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Monday September 17 2018, @05:20PM (7 children)
The real problem is they've blown their credibility so thoroughly that it's quite reasonable to doubt any explanation they give.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Monday September 17 2018, @08:34PM (6 children)
.... any REASONABLE explanation.
The problem with this unreasonable explanation is I have first hand experience where some ex-husband down the street got really freakin drunk, broke into ex-wifes house (technically, he paid for it and is still paying for it, so not sure how its her house, but using the pronouns the newspapers use for convenience if not honesty). He wasn't really a threat, he literally broke the door down and passed out on the couch, cold. So the cops evac'd everyone from the house and locked down the neighborhood and sent in the SWAT attack APC (because they have it and need to use it to justify the budget, not because and unconscious drunk is a real threat). They waited around literally for hours to see if he'd wake up, then they got tired of waiting and rushed the house "Taze first ask questions later" literally. At least they didn't shoot him with pistols while he was unconscious, although it seems kinda brutal to taze an unconscious drunk apparently for the sheer hell of it.
Anyway everything was back to normal, aside from the smashed door lock, in about six hours.
So naturally, some nutcase on a mountain would take a week because, um...
I MIGHT give them credit if it was some nutcase claiming in writing he's gonna go for a high score with his rifle collection then runs off into the woods until he's caught or they find his body. That would be a reasonable explanation.
Its just a crappy press release anyway. I wonder if its fake news and someone on /b/ is just pulling journalists legs for the LOLs. For example of how crappy it is, they even call out in a paragraph something paraphrased to "we didn't want to draw any attention so we went all x-files on the town because we were SURE that would not provide any attention, LOL" I mean, come on, if you're making shit up, /b/, at least try harder not to be so silly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:51PM
Well, don't write off the fact that sometimes those astronomer-types are pretty high-strung and take it out on the telesope [astroanecdotes.com].
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 17 2018, @09:42PM
Not to police. Especially ones who would even use ex-military gear. And it depends on what part of the body the taser strike hits.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday September 17 2018, @09:49PM (2 children)
No, that's not what I meant. Even when they give reasonable explanations, their credibility is so shot that it's unreasonable to put any trust in their explanation. It *might* be correct, but their saying it doesn't give it any significant increase in plausibility. Every time I've been able to check out an official story it's been significantly wrong. Often, admittedly, it appears that the wrong was because of laziness or (nearly benign) CYA, but it's still a reason to doubt the explanation.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:29PM (1 child)
Explanation means nothing without evidence.
The "conspiracy theory" folks are providing some pretty crappy evidence, but the officials aren't providing a single damn thing, so it's not hard for crappy evidence to win that battle...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday September 18 2018, @07:37PM
That's a reasonable point, but it can't stand in the face of information overload. The problem is that there isn't anyone trustworthy. Nobody has time to reasonably evaluate the evidence (assuming it were available) for even the news stories they judge important, so you need to rely on trustworthy spokesmen for those who honestly evaluate the evidence in some particular area. But there aren't any. The officials aren't trustworthy, and the rest don't have access to most of the evidence.
OTOH, I've almost gotten to the point of considering something less likely when an official states that it's true, because they've been caught lying so frequently, and usually you can't catch the lies because the evidence is hidden, so you wouldn't expect to be able to catch them most of the time.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:15PM
Landlord/tenant relationship - he can't enter unless she allows it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by shortscreen on Monday September 17 2018, @06:45PM (1 child)
The cops thought a serial killer might be on the loose and personnel were going to start turning up dead, one after another.
Eight little scientists, staring at heaven
one ate a Tide Pod, and then there were seven...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 17 2018, @10:05PM
It sounds like the one scientist wanted a near death experience, but got too near. Like a black hole.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday September 17 2018, @09:31PM (1 child)
In a cross between Alien and Contact, a coded message received in the observatory planted a seed in the retina of the analyst which matured into a face-hugger, they had to irradiate the entire complex to be sure they got all the alien germ-material.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:18PM
But just that isn't enough to be sure.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday September 17 2018, @03:45PM (7 children)
I know our national government sucks balls, but if there was something "they don't want us to see" shutting down just one observatory would be woefully inadequate to stop those pesky scientists from finding it.
Using conspiracies to explain everything in the world sucks and I wish people would stop doing it(absent specific evidence of knowledge and cooperation of a particular plot by specific individuals, I'm not trying to say watergate didn't happen e.g.)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by jmorris on Monday September 17 2018, @04:45PM (4 children)
Unless the theory that foreign intel assets had set up there to use the vantage point to snoop on other government research in the area is the right one. That would explain the importance of seizing just that one spot. It wasn't the solar observatory itself they wanted, it was all that other RF and other equipment at the site mentioned in the reports.
Which is why the statement is unhelpful in squashing the rumors. It is as content free as a professional serpent tongued PR flack could make it. A nice clear statement as to what actually is going on would have ended the speculation, this one only fuels more.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:40PM (3 children)
This doesn't really imply "foreign intel assets" though. I sounds more like they were worried about a mass shooting.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Monday September 17 2018, @05:52PM (1 child)
But that is just stupid, once identified they take the guy in for questioning, not close down a research facility and deploy a swarm of Feds to secure it.
Remember, anything you read in the media is at least partly false. Either incompetence, intentional misdirection or plain old lies. This story smells of a lot of intentional obfuscation and misdirection. That usually means intelligence op.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @08:52PM
Well what threat do you think they were concerned about? That the foreign government would try to bomb the place?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @05:55PM
Actually, I wonder if its involved with hacked/leaked SAP info on the clinton servers. From the OIG report we know there was classified stuff on there, but clinton couldnt be expected to understand there was anything wrong with what she was doing. AFAIK the extra emails on the Anthony Wiener laptop given to the NYSD still hasnt been released at all.. Unfortunately, thats all we really know.
All this anonymous source stuff is too annoying, can't trust it. But this came out about a week before the observatory investigation:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-without-citing-evidence-says-china-hacked-hillary-clintons-emails/2018/08/29/cdbd6c60-ab71-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/11/04/erik-prince-nypd-ready-make-arrests-weiner-case/ [breitbart.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday September 17 2018, @11:23PM
So it was aliens then?
Right, got it.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday September 18 2018, @01:36PM
That's the problem though, there IS clear evidence of cooperation of a particular plot by specific individuals in this case. Unless you're claiming that NOBODY has a clue why this particular facility was shut down. Surely at least one researcher (who made the call) and at least one FBI agent (who received the call) know what's going on, and they are cooperating to keep that information away from the media.
The fact that there is a conspiracy of some sort seems pretty undeniable; the argument can only be about the reasons behind it. And if the officials involved refuse to provide any reasons or any evidence, then people are naturally going to seek out their own evidence. And as well all know, a lot of people really suck at doing that.
If the officials involved were TRYING to spark a bunch of stupid conspiracy theories they couldn't have done a better job...
(Score: 3, Funny) by tizan on Monday September 17 2018, @04:18PM (4 children)
Looks like they caught the alien(s) ...so watch for activity at Area 51 in Nevada.
Or the aliens escaped and they determined that they are not coming back to the Sunspot mountain.
But wait was it FBI or another 3 letter federal agency CPB involved ? ...so was it interplanertary aliens or terestrial aliens ?
Wonder if this is related
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/15/us/us-border-patrol-agent-arrested-slayings/index.html [cnn.com]
Does that mean ET has been killed ?
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Monday September 17 2018, @05:07PM
The TLA(s) you should consider are in the following: involved was the FBI as instructed by the MIB to get DHS looking into the ET threat before they made an EVA.
All is OK now ;-)
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Monday September 17 2018, @08:39PM (2 children)
Twitter censors posts about illegal aliens; these guys (or whatever) were merely undocumented migrants. If they rape a couple pickup truck drivers on rural roads using weird anal probes or accidentally crash their "spacecraft of peace" into a crowd killing dozens, that is just the price we NEED to pay as white people for a multicultural society, and only horrible Nazis would not want their friends and families to pay the ultimate price for their racism.
(Score: 2) by tizan on Monday September 17 2018, @08:59PM (1 child)
Sorry to point to you that NM is not a white society or white majority state...it is a minorities majority state !
Who's paying what ? Tell that to the Pueblo or Navajo people here. I am sure you'll be their hero !
Whether you like it or not poor people will try to escape from poverty and oppression.. you can deny that by saying they are all drug mules to justify inhumanism...glad it makes you sleep at night. From the days out of Africa we have have been migrating all over for a better life...Don't agree with that fact...tough on you.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday September 18 2018, @12:18PM
Odd how when white people do it, its "evil imperialism colonialism" but when non-whites do the same thing, its some kind of holy act to be worshipped. A little too racist for me.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday September 17 2018, @06:32PM (3 children)
As in Nuclear/Biological/Chemical, or some other kind of Hazmat situation. (I guess it's CBRNE now). They don't want to induce panic.
It could be lots of other possibilities, but that's the only one that makes immediate sense to me for the complete blackout of what it was that also required an evacuation. (Plus evacuation of a local post office). Remediation took time.
Amerithrax 2.0 [wikipedia.org], anyone?
And maybe there is something about declaring it that they feel would interfere with the investigation as well.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:53PM (1 child)
There was no reports of anyone in hazmat suits...
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday September 17 2018, @07:30PM
True. That anybody saw. It would not be completely and totally impossible for a team to bring their gear into an entryway or foyer and establish a quarantine zone there. Or even one person, one hazmat suit, with detection equipment. Negative returns = no further result needed.
And it could be something like a security issue. The post office evacuation... not completely a coincidence. But if not, then why - if it were just a security/espionage matter why would they need to close and evacuate a post office?
I'd bet instead the government has tuned up its responses for events like this to have a fast-response emergency triage that is intentionally low-key enough to not draw attention.
Sooner or later I'm sure the truth will out. I could be a million miles off but this is one possibility I've seen nobody mention... probably because everybody thinks they know how such an event would play out and that doesn't have to be the case anymore.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday September 21 2018, @02:09PM
And I can be wrong, too.... Child porn, not CRBNE. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-solar-observatory-closing-child-porn-case-case-20180920-story.html [chicagotribune.com]
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @06:44PM
Either there was a spy inside, or cartel activity in the hills, or some criminal compound nearby. That's my guess. They probably have to be hush-hush for now because they don't want to let the rest of the criminal gang know exactly what and who they've got.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @07:26PM (3 children)
They weren't Aliens. They were people from the future coming to warn us.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @07:45PM
Those are no longer people, unless you consider neanderthals people... They would be either pre-adamites who have been living underground for millenia or post-adamites who are partially androidic.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Monday September 17 2018, @10:08PM (1 child)
Not very bright then. At the time into which they emerged, the 2016 election had already happened.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @10:15PM
Actually, no. They tried that and when they got back they saw how badly #CrookedHillary had screwed things up, so they came back a second time to undo their mistake. And now they're back again to tell us what a great job President Trump is doing in his third term.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Tuesday September 18 2018, @03:24AM
I actually did a bit of Google Fu searching for "Sunspot Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico". The only thing I noted there other than the usual "unknown goings on" was a couple of posts on a Trip Adviser article that mentioned a recent change in management. Seems that in July NMSU took over the facility. So maybe some employee got upset over the change and threatened to go all Las Vegas Shooter on everyone there or blow up the place.
When life isn't going right, go left.