# What is going on at the solar observatory?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 14, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353 "2018-09-14T18:50:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/1 "2018-09-14T18:50:18Z")
Putting this here because at this point it will all be speculation.
So what’s the best guess about what is going on at the National Solar Observatory? Killer solar storm? Aliens? Terrorists? Aliens? Terrorist aliens?
So far I haven’t seen any explanations. Everyone seems to be in the dark (so to speak).
> **[Unexplained 'Security Issue' Keeps National Solar Observatory Facility Shuttered](https://www.space.com/41834-national-solar-observatory-facility-closed-security-issue.html)**
>
> It's been more than a week, and a National Solar Observatory (NSO) facility in New Mexico is still closed for an undisclosed "security issue."
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/2 "2018-09-14T18:57:02Z")
It’s definitely not aliens, because if it was, someone who worked there would leak the fact that we discovered aliens.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/3 "2018-09-14T19:00:43Z")
> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> It’s definitely not aliens, because if it was, someone who worked there would leak the fact that we discovered aliens.
That’s just what they want you to think.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/4 "2018-09-14T19:08:48Z")
So help me, if FBI Special Agents Mulder and Scully are working on the case… 😃
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### Author:  [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/5 "2018-09-14T19:45:38Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> That’s just what they want you to think.
Don’t blame me, they told me to think and say that!
Dammit, now you’ve done
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/6 "2018-09-14T20:30:10Z")
I’d guess: domestic terrorism.
These types of facilities have been targeted before. The Stewart Mirror Lab at the UofA stopped doing tours for several years after being the target of a “terrorist” plot. There are quite a few folks who don’t like people building structures on the tops of mountains…
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/7 "2018-09-14T20:42:44Z")
Any sort of “usual” terrorism doesn’t make sense. They have shut out the local LE completely. You do _not_ do that if you are going after terrorists at a site.
And if someone planted a bomb there why not just say so? The person who planted the bomb knows the jig is up what with the helicopter and the FBI. Who are you keeping this a secret from? Plus, you want to talk to the staff there. Did they see anybody do anything off? Maybe package that wasn’t there before? And on and on.
What if someone dumped some anthrax near the entrance or something. Um, don’t you want to warn people who may have been exposed to see a doctor, take some precautionary drugs, etc.? Certainly don’t want them flying back home while their facility is shut down.
It is very, very hard to come up with any plausible explanation that doesn’t get into woo territory.
Woo #1. The US military had a “oopsie” near the site. E.g., a nuke fell out of a USAF plane or some such. They are in full CYA mode and don’t want anyone to know while they clean things up.
Woo #2. Being a solar observatory, they are experts on solar cycles which have been used to discount the stupid “the recent warming trend is just part of the normal solar cycle” nonsense. Trump sent in the FBI to shut down the place and destroy records. (This is more like Woo^Woo.)
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/8 "2018-09-14T20:49:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The NSO’s Sunspot Solar Observatory, on Sacramento Peak in the southern part of the state, was evacuated last Thursday (Sept. 6), as was a nearby post office…
This sounds to me like a suspicious piece of mail - anthrax or some other toxic substance that may have gotten into both buildings.
If they suspect someone at the facility is involved, they may want to keep everything very quiet until they complete their investigation.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/9 "2018-09-14T23:15:48Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#):
>
> This sounds to me like a suspicious piece of mail - anthrax or some other toxic substance that may have gotten into both buildings.
>
> If they suspect someone at the facility is involved, they may want to keep everything very quiet until they complete their investigation.
Anthrax was my first thought but I can’t see how the complete information blackout fits into it.
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### Author:  [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2018, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/10 "2018-09-14T23:53:00Z")
The linked story also has a link to a possible explanation that is relatively plausible IMO.
[Mysterious Evacuation Of Solar Observatory Overlooking White Sands Smells Like Espionage](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23582/mysterious-evacuation-of-solar-observatory-overlooking-white-sands-smells-like-espionage)
> [@](#):
>
> The National Solar Observatory’s site enjoys a wide and largely unobstructed view of both the U.S. Air Force’s Holloman Air Force Base and the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range, both of which regularly host a very wide array of U.S. military research and development programs.
The Sherrif referenced a bunch of people around antenna and work crews on towers that weren’t explained to him. The article considers the option of using that nice line of sight and the antenna farm to set up electronic monitoring.
It’s a simple, if relatively mundane, explanation for the limited facts available.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/11 "2018-09-15T10:04:04Z")
> [@DinoR](#):
>
> The linked story also has a link to a possible explanation that is relatively plausible IMO.
>
> [Mysterious Evacuation Of Solar Observatory Overlooking White Sands Smells Like Espionage](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23582/mysterious-evacuation-of-solar-observatory-overlooking-white-sands-smells-like-espionage)
> The Sherrif referenced a bunch of people around antenna and work crews on towers that weren’t explained to him. The article considers the option of using that nice line of sight and the antenna farm to set up electronic monitoring.
>
> It’s a simple, if relatively mundane, explanation for the limited facts available.
That does seem plausible. But someone using an observatory to place spy equipment for a foreign power seems anything but mundane.
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### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/12 "2018-09-15T14:07:06Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> That does seem plausible. But someone using an observatory to place spy equipment for a foreign power seems anything but mundane.
Relatively mundane, compared to aliens, anthrax attacks, or even the FBI being used to shut down an observatory to eliminate climate change research.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/13 "2018-09-15T14:52:22Z")
The idea about a surveillance device seems intriguing but there’s still oddities.
One of the linked articles says "With the capabilities of modern electronics and batteries, it’s possible that such a system wouldn’t even need to be hard wired. "
If you don’t need wires why risk putting it on such a site? There’s a lot of similar mountains around. Put it in a tree on one of those. Less likely to be noticed, etc.
I think that being wired is important.
The FBI has to be asking employees about what they might have seen, etc. So a lot of employees have an idea about what is going on. One of those, despite warnings, has to have blabbed to a spouse/friend/whatever and then the secret would be sort of out by now. Shoot you could post something anonymously on the Internet via the Tor browser.
Unless they are _not_ asking employees, which would be very odd.
Even then why leave local LE out of the loop? Why keep the site shut down but with no security detail for at least a couple days? Etc.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/14 "2018-09-15T15:50:03Z")
> [@DinoR](#):
>
> The linked story also has a link to a possible explanation that is relatively plausible IMO.
>
> [Mysterious Evacuation Of Solar Observatory Overlooking White Sands Smells Like Espionage](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23582/mysterious-evacuation-of-solar-observatory-overlooking-white-sands-smells-like-espionage)
> The Sherrif referenced a bunch of people around antenna and work crews on towers that weren’t explained to him. The article considers the option of using that nice line of sight and the antenna farm to set up electronic monitoring.
>
> It’s a simple, if relatively mundane, explanation for the limited facts available.
If the concern is a possible intelligence device attached to one of the antennas, what possible reason would there be to evacuate the facility?
It’s also possible that they are just planning some secret test or exercise which would be visible from there, and so needed the area cleared. But then why did it take so long to get proper security set up?
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### Author:  [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/15 "2018-09-15T17:26:01Z")
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> It’s possible that they are just planning **some secret test which would be visible from there, and so needed the area cleared.** But then why did it take so long to get proper security set up?
This was my first guess, too.
They plan to roll out some new secret device,and don’t want it probed by high-tech equipment. That’s a simple, clean explanation. (But not as much fun as aliens).
As for the sudden rush and evacuation at the last minute…that’s explainable by standard human stupidity.
Somebody simply forgot to notice the observatory contains,say, electronic equipment which uses the same wavelength (or whatever) as the new secret device.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/16 "2018-09-15T18:25:08Z")
Where’s **scr4**? He’s a solar astronomer, and while he doesn’t live in New Mexico, maybe he’s heard something through the solar grapevine.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/17 "2018-09-15T18:47:39Z")
It’s 16 miles from Hollman AFB. Might be a good place to monitor White Sands Missile Range activity.
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### Author:  [@ohiomstr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ohiomstr2)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/18 "2018-09-15T19:00:13Z")
Wait, if the government is installing a secret monitoring device how come they are not using the same crew that wired the WTC for demolition? They managed to move tons of explosives, wire and whatnot into a building occupied by several thousand people with no one noticing. Seems to me that one little bitty sensor should be easy.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/19 "2018-09-15T19:14:14Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Anthrax was my first thought but I can’t see how the complete information blackout fits into it.
Agreed. I worked somewhere that received a mysterious white powder. The news media knew about it before everyone in the building did.
> [@DinoR](#):
>
> The linked story also has a link to a possible explanation that is relatively plausible IMO.
>
> [Mysterious Evacuation Of Solar Observatory Overlooking White Sands Smells Like Espionage](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23582/mysterious-evacuation-of-solar-observatory-overlooking-white-sands-smells-like-espionage)
> The Sherrif referenced a bunch of people around antenna and work crews on towers that weren’t explained to him. The article considers the option of using that nice line of sight and the antenna farm to set up electronic monitoring.
>
> It’s a simple, if relatively mundane, explanation for the limited facts available.
More plausible.
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> It’s 16 miles from Hollman AFB. Might be a good place to monitor White Sands Missile Range activity.
This isn’t a new development. Why would it be relevant now?
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-at-the-solar-observatory/821353/20 "2018-09-15T20:05:25Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> This isn’t a new development. Why would it be relevant now?
I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.
Observatories are located on high ground. If unauthorized people were found on the building structure then one of the possibilities is spy equipment. What is nearby that can be monitored.
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