>“Nobody would give us any information on what was going on,” House [the sheriff] said, before the phone call cut out and repeated attempts to reach him again were unsuccessful. Seriously? Is this an ARG?
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FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
51–60 of 129 posts
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm skeptical of that theory. Sunspot is up in the Lincoln National Forest. There are multiple trails and locations that have a great view of White Sands and Holloman AFB, which are located in the basin below. There isn't anything special about the view from Sunspot that I can recall.
Other than a big telescope great for looking at things far away? I used to work in astrophysics. Telescope operators are expected not to look in certain places. Those were fun conversations. My guess is they found a spy.
I am curious as to what would happen if an organization that owned a large telescope was unwilling to cooperate with such a request.
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#53Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> my guess is armed extremists threatening to take it over? ... why?
350 pounds (or 10 tons? Actual amount is unknown) of mercury
... as far as I know, mercury isn't a restricted product and can be shipped to your door.
Here's a video of a guy flushing 240# of mercury down a toilet (NOT connected to a sewer or septic system), just to see if it was possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvVaaZ21C44
It's not exactly difficult to find industrial users of mercury, and the mercury at Sunspot is in a sealed instrument. I see no reason why the presence of mercury there would be incentive for an "armed group" to attempt to assault and/or hold the observatory.
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
What kinds of places were you told not to look? (I'm guessing you couldn't physically point it at targets on the ground, so I assume certain sections of the sky.) Who was it that was commanding you not to look?
Since subcosmos won't answer, I'll take a guess: Spy satellites.
Anyone can look at those though, they can't really hide them
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#56Looks like a small sliver of the observatory is blurred on Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7882221,-105.8176836,349a,35...
looks ok to me, loading error?
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#57I've been following this since the tenth, and it's weird for sure. One thing that stands out to me - based on comments from people who live in the area (and who I am confident actually do ), the observatory is transitioning from being owned by the federal government to a university. They've gone through a significant staff reduction, and there was basically no one there to tell to leave. Further, while it's been repo…
I'm not sure what you're implying. Because there's not a visible security presence, the Alamogordo Daily News is making this up? After law enforcement gets what they need, there's no reason to patrol the property.
> Because there's not a visible security presence, the Alamogordo Daily News is making this up?
Nope.
At this point, I believe that this was a fairly orderly shutdown (temporary or permanent) that wasn't communicated very well. The "FBI" and "Blackhawk helicopter" were probably federal employees removing federal property from the observatory's antenna arrays before handing it over to the university. I suppose it's possible that some of that could have been classified, since it's situated within line of sight of a military base where project testing occurs and it's conceivable that they might have used that site to received telemetry, but I don't see any reason to think that it's anything more than a case of poor communication between agencies and a pile-on by people who aren't familiar with the details and who want to see something that isn't there.
Note that I was one of those people at first - I gave significant thought to the idea that this was some sort of coverup associated with the coronal mass ejection and the ensuing solar storm that happened right at the same time. As time went on, other solar observatories starting going down and I got much more intensely interested. I took a step back though, and did some more looking around. The other observatory that went down first was in Hawaii, where they were experiencing a tropical storm.
I'll keep watching this, but at this point I think it'll just fade away into nothing, as there really is nothing happening there.
I will give a nod to one theorist on another forum who suggested that the cryptic communication, lack of a press conference, and the local sheriff denying knowledge of everything is all intended as an opportunity to study how conspiracy theories are formed, investigated, and disseminated in online forums. I hope that's the case, because I want to read that paper.
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#58I was raised in Alamogordo (a satellite town to HAFB and directly 'down the hill' from Sunspot) and, while I don't have any information other than what other posters have offered, I can tell you that my entire family is farrr too excited that our tiny little hometown is national news for once Edit: for clarification, HAFB and all of White Sands Missile Range sits on flatlands surrounded by two mountains; the Organ Mo…
Isn't New Mexico State U there? The Aggies?
Yes, it is.
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Other than a big telescope great for looking at things far away? I used to work in astrophysics. Telescope operators are expected not to look in certain places. Those were fun conversations. My guess is they found a spy.
Sure, but it's a big telescope mostly buried in the ground designed to look at the sun. Not sure how much use it could possibly be in relation to its proximity to White Sands and/or Holloman.
There are multiple telescopes there.
Solar observatories need to track the sun, so they use a little mirror (heliostat) at the tunnel entrance that changes angle to track the sun, so you can point it anywhere.
Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Heh, this is the most probable explanation yet, and it is being downed? This is a real problem in the US for anyone that hasn't had a meth lab bust in thier local hood, gated community or national/state/muni park.
This seems like a stupidly conspicuous location to setup a meth lab unless you assume that not a single person visits the facility for months at a time and no one would notice large plumes of smoke rising from it.
True, and I don't think it's a meth lab, but using abandoned military buildings does have precedent on drug manufacturing: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wamego-lsd-missile-silo