National Solar Observatory, USPS office in Sunspot, NM evacuated for 'safety reasons'

Could it be that the Post Office was evacuated / taken over as command central?

I decided to search who the sunspot.solar URL belongs to and apparently lots of other people did the same thing, and it looks like all information has been redacted.

Only info is that it may be registered to someone in CA.

From whois.com:

DOMAIN INFORMATION
Domain:sunspot.solar
Registrar:Tucows Domains Inc.
Registration Date:2018-08-02
Expiration Date:2019-08-02
Updated Date:2018-08-07
Status:clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited
Name Servers:dns3.p05.nsone.net
ns01.squarespacedns.com
dns1.p05.nsone.net
ns02.squarespacedns.com
dns4.p05.nsone.net
dns2.p05.nsone.net
REGISTRANT CONTACT
Name:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Organization:Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0152309097
Street:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
City:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
State:ON
Postal Code:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Country:CA
Phone:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Fax:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Emaillease query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
Name:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Organization:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Street:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
City:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
State:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Postal Code:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Country:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Phone:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Fax:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Emaillease query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
TECHNICAL CONTACT
Name:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Organization:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Street:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
City:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
State:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Postal Code:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Country:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Phone:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Fax:REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Emaillease query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
RAW WHOIS DATA
Domain Name: sunspot.solar
Registry Domain ID: 0379ba106228477fabcfd9a5072afc9f-DONUTS
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.tucows.com
Registrar URL: www.tucows.com...
Updated Date: 2018-08-07T18:09:14Z
Creation Date: 2018-08-02T18:08:27Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2019-08-02T18:08:27Z
Registrar: Tucows Domains Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 69
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 416.535.0123x1283
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited icann.org...
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited icann.org...
Registry Registrant ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Organization: Contact Privacy Inc. Customer 0152309097
Registrant Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant State/Province: ON
Registrant Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Country: CA
Registrant Phone: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Phone Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Fax Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Registrant Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Registry Admin ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Organization: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin State/Province: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Country: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Phone: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Phone Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Fax Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Admin Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Registry Tech ID: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Organization: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Street: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech City: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech State/Province: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Postal Code: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Country: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Phone: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Phone Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Fax: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Fax Ext: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Tech Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name.
Name Server: dns3.p05.nsone.net
Name Server: ns01.squarespacedns.com
Name Server: dns1.p05.nsone.net
Name Server: ns02.squarespacedns.com
Name Server: dns4.p05.nsone.net
Name Server: dns2.p05.nsone.net
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: www.icann.org...
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2018-09-09T17:48:58Z

Their Facebook page is also down, but there are couple videos online. No idea what this means, but they are recent: cn-new.net...

and

qrznow.com...

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: SeaWorthy

"Right now, what we're told is that they've temporarily evacuated the area. We haven't been told why or when that expires," said Rod Spurgeon, a spokesman with the USPS.

Google the name Rod Spurgeon.

A coincidence surely.

That's one crazy coincidence! That seems like an awfully rare name to have. Very interesting thread!

a reply to: SeaWorthy

I run up google maps on that spot, and I see it too. I figure it's one of those Google photo goofups- as that's the campground, and light hit the camera from that thing just right.

I'm at work and able to mess around and called the visitor centers number (575)434-7190. The recording states that both the visitor center and telescope are open 7 days a week from 9am to 5pm. No mention of a closure.

The recording also is able to direct you to a real person by pressing zero, but got no answer.

I did get ambitious and leave my phone number claiming to be an online journalist and requesting a call back about the closure and what the "security risk" is.

After pondering this for a few minutes after hanging up, I realized that may not have been the wisest move but it's too late now. I will update if someone actually does call me back.

I'm going to call the University as well....screw it.

Attention Please:

Please limit discussion of the Q topic to the Q thread and do not derail other threads with it. Doing so will result in removals and can lead to other actions.

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a reply to: SeaWorthy

I just noticed on Google Maps that for some reason there is no street view in Sunspot. Heck, there is no street view on the road leading into it.

But the funny thing is that pretty much EVERYWHERE else in the area has street view.

Just not Sunspot or the road into it.
Curious.




The blue color indicates street viewable roads, but for some reason only part of the picture shows
Here is the direct link if you want to see a bit more of the area: i.imgur.com...

Well, I am about 400 miles to the west, but looking at the map I see it is just east of Holloman AFB and about 80 miles to the south-west of Roswell.
If I didn't have to work tomorrow, I might have just had to have a road trip...

So I work as a manager for a very large Hotel chain and decided to reach out to sister hotels in the area to see if I could get any relevant information.

I chatted with 3 different managers in Alamagordo and none of them knew anything about what's going on in Sunspot. One did tell me to try a place called "The Lodge", which is located in a place called Cloudcroft. I called there and spoke to the manager who seemed delighted to speak to someone from the Big Apple.

He told me that his hotel/golf course was about a 30 minute drive from the observatory. He went online to the article and decided that he was now interested, so he started asking other workers there if they had heard about anything going on at Sunspot.

Someone told him that he has a brother that works there that he hasn't been able to get ahold of for the last day or so.
Other than that , there was no real information given.

So I guess the only thing to deduce is that IF something nefarious is happening in Sunspot, even the locals don't know about it.