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FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

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Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#101

Post by nrdgrl »

dlivingston wrote: post #31

I 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…

I once drove the highway through the white sands missile range, 2 days in a row (tourist). I went through a DHS checkpoint twice where they checked my ID and asked detailed questions about where I was going and why. The second day they wanted to know why I had gone two days in a row. There are (where back then anyway) big barriers they would lower to close a portion of the highway during 'missile' tests.

A fascinating place to visit.

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#102

Post by acct1771 »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #75
amdavidson wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is he not wearing gloves?!

I'm no expert here, but is metallic mercury that much of a hazard? I thought it was the vapor that was the big risk with handling mercury. Obviously, I'd be sure of that before I handled it :)

Believe so.

See: mad hatters

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#103

Post by dragonwriter »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83
evil-olive wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work adjacent to some satellites that do visual-spectrum imaging of the earth, and even we fall under these regulations. In addition to all the NOAA licensing for imaging the ground, you need extra licenses for taking pictures of space. (it's useful, for example, to image the moon as a way of calibrating cameras & telescopes without atmospheric interference, and tracking stars is one of the most reliable ways to de…

> but only after offering it for sale to the Air Force at a commercially reasonable price. That sounds like a business model - what is a commercially reasonable price, and where do I sign up?

> That sounds like a business model

Does it? You have one potential customer, and you have to create product on spec, offer it to them at a price you don't control, and destroy the unsold material whether or not the one customer pays for a copy.

Building a viable business model around that without corrupt influence over the single buyer seems impractical.

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#104

Post by linksnapzz »

Sephr wrote: post #81
linksnapzz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A late friend who worked on type II supernova simulations was once invited to talk about his team's software with some gentlemen at an NNSA lab, Los Alamos or Livermore or Sandia (I forget which one.) At the conclusion of the talk, the DOE guys said appreciative things about the current work, but also pointed out that certain avenues of investigation into certain characteristics might lead to the gov't declaring this…

Did they attempt to open source the software?

IIRC, the code in question was written under an NSF grant, and probably not that hard to obtain.

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#105

Post by dragonwriter »

Zak wrote: post #94
toss1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it'd likely have something to do with a long-term non-optional residency as guest of the government in Leavenworth, Kansas

What law would this violate? Please be specific, as legal definitions of things like espionage are often not as broad as a layperson might guess (and on occasion, they're broader).

> What law would this violate?

Once the party was informed, and thus had knowledge, of the national defense sensitivity involves, it would seem arguably to facially violate the Espionage Act of 1917, as amended; in particular, 18 USC §§ 793, 795, and, if they attempt to publish the pictures, 797, and/or, if the order originates with NASA, 799.

Specific enough?

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#106

Post by owenversteeg »

Sharlin wrote: post #77
mturmon wrote: post #72

In the late 1990s I used imagery (taken on films and later digitized) from the solar observatory at that site ("Sac Peak"). I later visited it for a conference. It's highly remote, and the handful of astronomers there lived in very basic conditions. I seem to remember a house trailer (i.e., a "manufactured home"). Note, Sac Peak is nowhere near the other solar observatory in Kitt Peak, AZ, and it is a daytime observa…

> Sac Peak [...] is a daytime observatory [...] A nighttime solar observatory would have certain... observational challenges.

Hah... I suppose a neutrino detector could count?

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#107

Post by psalminen »

mturmon wrote: post #72

In the late 1990s I used imagery (taken on films and later digitized) from the solar observatory at that site ("Sac Peak"). I later visited it for a conference. It's highly remote, and the handful of astronomers there lived in very basic conditions. I seem to remember a house trailer (i.e., a "manufactured home"). Note, Sac Peak is nowhere near the other solar observatory in Kitt Peak, AZ, and it is a daytime observa…

I toured Sunspot when I was at Apache Point researching about two years ago. Even at this time, Sunspot seemed fairly run down/on the way out.

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#108

Post by codezero »

lawlessone wrote: post #55
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since subcosmos won't answer, I'll take a guess: Spy satellites.

Anyone can look at those though, they can't really hide them

I worked on a project that happened to have some spy satellite data as noise...

You can hide them. A common practice is to do an orbital maneuver when the satellite is directly between the Sun-Earth line-of-sight, where attempts to use instruments are pretty well saturated/destroyed.

With that said, it is still possible to see where the satellites go after such a boost if you are able to look really close to the limb of the sun with the right kind of equipment :)

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#109

Post by hindsightbias »

baq wrote: post #70
lawlessone wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can look at those though, they can't really hide them

Not every hobbyist had access to 1m+ mirrors, though. I imagine you could take a reasonably revealing picture of eg an Orion: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(satellite)

People have done a lot with less than 1m.

http://www.satobs.org/telescope.html

https://satelliteobservation.net/2017/04/20/observing-satell...

Re: FBI Mysteriously Closes New Mexico Observatory

#110

Post by lamontcg »

My guess is someone's ex-boyfriend/ex-husband had some OChem background and decided to go a bit ted kaczynski. The FBI got involved due to threats of explosives, they went into his apartment and found real evidence of bomb making. Would also be consistent with the Post Office having been shut down if he was planning on mailing anything.

Might also be politically motivated, but I'm going to bet on personal since this observatory was specifically targeted, and not APO (an ex-grad student who feels their academic career was destroyed by someone there would work as well for me).

Or something that rhymes with that and is much more mundane than Chinese spies or secret military tests (but of course just exceptional enough to get the FBI involved and not the local cops -- so an actual credible bomb maker and not just someone phoning in a threat).

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