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

a reply to: GD1970

Absolutely, lets keep the humor going every once in a while, things will get pretty boring otherwise.

During the China/Russia War Games?

Sorry if posted, still reading

originally posted by: threeeyesopen
a reply to: BigDave-AR

No worries, everyones got a job to do, having a sense of humor is the best medicine I think. We'll keep you posted on here with any new info if you wanna sit back for a bit.

Days slowing down so I’m good just headed to get the rig washed before I drop it off at the yard and make the hours drive back home and I’ll be good. When I get home I’ll crack a brew and try to run down the rabbit hole and have a looksee. I appreciate the offer though, might have to take ya up on that down the road if we still haven’t fingered out what’s going on in sunspot, it blows my mind that we’re a week in and still chasing our tails.

Curious if anyone has reached out to the NMSU Director listed on their Instagram post (the observatory's)?
Dr. McAteer [email protected]
Once I'm off work and have access to my personal PC I will attempt to contact him, but as most suspect I wont be holding my breath for a response.

originally posted by: Sabrechucker
During the China/Russia War Games?

Sorry if posted, still reading

Hadn’t made that connection I’ve been pretty much zeroed on this and the hurricane, thanks.

Thinking about the Blackhawk issue:

There’s an FBI field office in Albuquerque (238 miles away) and El Paso (125 miles away). There are only two reasons I can think of for requiring air transport.

1. The agents came from farther out than these two relatively short drives.
2. Their reason for being there was short notice and time sensitive.

Or a combination of the two.

originally posted by: Fiscal
Thinking about the Blackhawk issue:

There’s an FBI field office in Albuquerque (238 miles away) and El Paso (125 miles away). There are only two reasons I can think of for requiring air transport.

1. The agents came from farther out than these two relatively short drives.
2. Their reason for being there was short notice and time sensitive.

Or a combination of the two.

It’d be interesting if we could find the tail numbers and ADS-B to see exactly where the bird came from/went to.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Np, Maybe we're practicing or maybe they actually did something. Could be cosmic, but Earth is still pretty dangerous too

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Good idea. I may try and do some digging on that when I get home from work. We’ve got a general timeframe and air traffic in that area should be light due to proximity to White Sands.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

I think we have exhausted all available sources of information for this by now, we are kinda at the mercy of the powers that be now, unless some brave soul decides to go up there one night and go exploring himself.

originally posted by: PokeyJoe
a reply to: threeeyesopen

I think we have exhausted all available sources of information for this by now, we are kinda at the mercy of the powers that be now, unless some brave soul decides to go up there one night and go exploring himself.

It’d be nice to find out where the helo came from and went to would help to confirm a lot as well as giving some possible leads.

originally posted by: Fiscal
a reply to: BigDave-AR

Good idea. I may try and do some digging on that when I get home from work. We’ve got a general timeframe and air traffic in that area should be light due to proximity to White Sands.

I checked the Apache Observatory notes from the observers for a few nights around this incident and there was nothing of major note in them.

Link is here:

users.apo.nmsu.edu...

Apache is literally next door to Sunspot and these are their night logs....mostly just noted it was cloudy.

No idea how much of the sky this one covered and it isnt specifically for the sun either, so not sure if it will help at all.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I’m doing a bit of digging on my phone. Apparently there are ~8 UH-60m Blackhawks for the FBI’s THU (helicopter unit). Haven’t found any info on where they are based.

This is kind of interesting. On the 9th the earth was clearly really whopped, we have a solar storm but not a CME the earth was hit by a coronal hole stream but I have not seen this kind of hit or response before.
I don't know enough about such things to say if it is really odd but it seems to be?

The Large Hadron Collider: 10 years and counting
10 Sep 2018

CERN: Could they have tested something?

Not sure if this was already mentioned, but I ran across this post on Facebook. It was shared by someone else whose location says that they are a resident of Sunspot, and who has posted a couple of times about being evacuated.

As a 15-year former resident of the observatory, I offer to you the following FACTS:

1) Although the observatory runs under the auspices of AURA (the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy), operations of the National Solar Observatory have long since CEASED on the telescope. Any current research operations are being funded and utilized by New Mexico State University. There is only minimal NSO staff employed working at the site now and their full time focus is in continuing shut down operations in Sunspot.

2) There are minimal residents of Sunspot anymore. For that matter there only remains one NSO maintenance employee and his family plus a handful of support staff from NMSU living in housing. Most housing was vacated by former NSO employees (myself included) more than a year ago (and in some cases 2-3 years ago).

3) Radio astronomy has never been a “focus” of research conducted in Sunspot. Current data from the Dunn Solar Tower (if any) belongs to NMSU.

4) AURA operates under the auspices of the National Science Foundation, a federal agency. Therefore any kind of “investigation” or threat would be considered Federal, thus the FBI.

5) Although there is a moderate “G2” geomagnetic storm being reported at present (see: www.spaceweather.com). This is NOT necessarily an anomaly. These storms happen. Which is also why solar astronomers study the Sun.

6) Solar science has successfully been conducted in Sunspot since 1949. There has not been a full-time resident NSO solar scientist at the observatory since early 2017.

7) The phones are not being answered in Sunspot because the site is VACATED. (No conspiracy theory there.)

8) Any Mercury “spill” would fall under the auspices of OSHA. Mercury used in the Dunn Solar Tower is housed in a sealed turret at the top of the telescope and is monitored.

9) You Tube, the Internet and other non-fact based hypotheses are not based on scientific thought. Check your sources people!

10) Rumors of “aliens,” “alien contact,” etc. are nothing but nonsense. Hell, we even circulated a few of these funnies just for the laugh.

11) Official information should be released from AURA directly.

12) Finally, I want to add that there are many former residents and employees of the National Solar Observatory that are just as “in the dark” as the regular public. Making up disparaging comments about the science, the mission, and the community of Sunspot is not only repulsive but ignorant. We were once a proud little community with the best solar scientists in the world. The contributions of Sunspot and the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak will continue to influence solar science for DECADES.

As the former President of the Sunspot Community, I will always be a PROUD Sunspotter and like others would like to know the cause of such a closure. But I’m not willing to sit by and allow pseudoscience, and rumors tear down a legacy of scientific research. Please stop circulating non-verified FACT.

If nothing else, I find her title of "former President of the Sunspot Community" intriguing.

www.dailymail.co.uk...< br />

‘With the excitement this closure has generated, we hope you will come and visit us when we do reopen, and see for yourself the services we provide for science and public outreach in heliophysics.’

Looks like the story is beginning to make landfall in the msm.

There are several recent articles out now.

a reply to: PokeyJoe

I'm starting to feel similarly given the fact that no one is getting back to me at this point. It could very well be that they have nothing to tell either. I'm also beginning to do the live stream thing regarding the hurricane so my time is split at the moment too.

a reply to: Weagle

Yes we did see that posted earlier, I found it rather condescending at the time and very dismissive of everything we talked about. That's my opinion

That being said they do make some good points and their work deserves much respect.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

Figured out the President of Sunspot Community thing. The group had a bit of a newsletter. Also had a bit of humor. Here’s a link to a random newsletter I found:

ftp.nso.edu...

Seems to refer to ‘President of the Sunspot Community Center’.