Anyone care to speculate with me about the reason that the Sunspot Observatory has been closed by the FBI?

I read that Elon Musk’s Roadster is carjacked by a Martian (and we Earthlings would be deemed not ready for the sight of it…).

It says local law-enforcement is in the dark and a nearby post office was closed as well. How odd! This sounds like the kind of thing somebody would make a movie of.

Probably aliens.
But they will surely come up with a cover story, that will satisfy only the gullible.
They had enough time to write one up.

To wind up the gullible alien fanatics who believe literally every bullshit theory they dream up.
Seems it worked too :D

My guess is along the lines of a bomb threat or something of the sort. The article states that an off site organization responsible for running the place made the decision to shut it down. Had an alien craft or secret test plane landed (crashed) nearby, that decision would have been made by a government agency and security arrangements made far more stringent.

The observatory is on a peak overlooking an Air Force base and White Sands Missile Range, a mammoth testing ground for weapons, radar, etc.

I think there was a hint that a foreign agency installed surveillance devices up there, or that a staff member is tied to a foreign agency.

@Call_Me_Jay That was my second thought. My first was some sort of pettiness gotten out of hand between researchers competing for time on the telescope. Some sort of threat sent though the mail.

Again, I would dismiss any chance of spying or other national security threat just on the basis that the supervising scientific organization closed the place down. Even more compelling, the same organization was allowed to hire a private security firm to seal off the grounds. None of our top security agencies would put up with anything so lax. Then there was that final bit about those very guards being allowed to chat with the press—no government agency would tolerate that and call it security. The emphasis here seems more on emptying the place out and closing it up. And since “civilians” are permitted to run the show, ET, and top secret stuff are out of the picture.

“All data will be made public in its unaltered form,” McAteer added. “Nothing is hidden or kept secret.” This tells me that EVERYTHING will be hidden & kept a secret!!!

I disagree that it’s all on the up & up just because it’s the supervising scientific organization that’s shutting it down. I say that some fast talking bureaucrat convinced them that there is a problem & it needs to be shut down. Since I’m tired of the alien theory, I’ll opt to go with the lizard people behind the sun for now!!!

They are sanitizing the place and putting up high electrified fences and guard posts – Trump will be captured at the White House and transported there and then allowed to roam free on the grounds. THey’ll turn off all cell phone and all wifi communications so he won’t be able to twitter any more.

The Sunspot observatory is at the top of a large peak, so he’s unlikely to be in shape enough to walk down.

From what the theme for the news it could be anything from aliens to sexual harassment.

I would dismiss any chance of spying or other national security threat just on the basis that the supervising scientific organization closed the place down

People on the ground say the FBI closed it.

According to the Albuquerque Journal. story linked in the Space article, people on site said they were leaving after the FBI visited.

The Alamagordo Daily News quotes the county sheriff, “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,” [Sheriff] House said. “There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a bunch of people around antennas and work crews on towers but nobody would tell us anything.”

Maybe someone sexually harrased an alien?

The Democrats did it to make Trump look bad.

Any chance it’s another attempt to divert us from thinking by getting everybody thinking about anything except what Trump is really doing right now???

I read that it is 2 post offices being closed.

Finally we have the answer. A janitor using the observatory Internet to obtain child pornography. But why did they think it was necessary to shut down post offices? Or maybe that was a fabrication as well. http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180920/new-mexico-solar-observatory-child-pornography-investigation-not-aliens-triggered-mysterious-closure-of-facility?template=ampart

What post office @snowberry?

That might be the dumbest cover story I have ever heard.

‘cover story’?

I don’t buy that explanation – it reeks of bullshit.

A pervert janitor with a laptop closes a lib for a week? Not even remotely plausible.

IF you can’t dazzle them with the truth, baffle them with yout bullshit!!!

@Dutchess_III In one of the many links that I read about the closure, there was mention of one or two post offices being closed down as well as the observatory overlooking a military base. I’m not going to go back through and try to hunt up the information for you but it’s probably still out there somewhere.

@all This article did say that the janitor was talking about being afraid of somebody coming in in and executing somebody and him being concerned for the people who worked there and all kinds of stuff like that. So I can see why they would shut the place down until they had made sure. It turns out he was trying to create a smokescreen for his own activities.

@Dutchess_III ... @snowberry is correct about the Post Offices being closed. IF you read the link @ScienceChick provided it reports the first one. The 2nd once was announced a day or 2 later. The first one was a short distance from the Observatory & the other just a few miles away. Although closing the PO’s seemed strange at the time, IF the janitor theory is correct that could explain why the PO’s were considered to be closed. I’m still NOT convinced that the janitor story is true. There was NO name given & NO arrest reported. That, in itself, seems strange to me!!! We’re being groomed to react out of an overabundance of caution without questioning WHY!!!

Thanks @LadyMarissa. I went back and read it. That was kind of interesting. I BET some of her emails ended up at the observatory and at the nearby post office.

@Dutchess_II ... I’m thinking that IF the janitor story is remotely true & the janitor supposedly claimed that the observatory would be attacked…what better way than white powder sent through their delivering Post Office or maybe a letter bomb.

You might want to peruse this report also.