Mysterious observatory evacuation stirs alien conspiracy theories

The FBI showed up and evacuated the remote Sunspot solar observatory in southern New Mexico. Almost a week later, no one knows why.

Corners of the internet are atwitter about a possible alien coverup after reports that a Blackhawk helicopter and federal agents swooped in and inexplicably evacuated a remote part of New Mexico, including a prominent solar observatory.

FBI agents showed up at the Sunspot solar observatory in tiny Sunspot, New Mexico, on Friday and shut down the facility, evacuating the local area, including the town post office.

"There was a Blackhawk helicopter, a bunch of people around antennas and work crews on towers, but nobody would tell us anything," Otero County Sheriff Benny House told the Alamogordo Daily News. "I don't know why the FBI would get involved so quick and not tell us anything."

Five days later, the observatory's website confirms the entire facility is closed to both staff and the public until further notice.

"The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) who manages the facility is addressing a security issue at this time," AURA spokesperson Shari Lifson said in an emailed statement. "It's a temporary evacuation of the facility. We will open it up as soon as possible."

https://www.cnet.com/news/mysterious-observatory-evacuation-stirs-alien-conspiracy-theories/

What is this space plane's real secret?
Perhaps the easiest way to set conspiracy theorists afire is to send an unmanned Air Force space plane into orbit for two years and keep its mission and purpose classified. Most of the public theories about what the X-37B did during its continuous two-year flight have to do with spying and national security, but there are also those that think the craft was looking for aliens, commandeering abandoned alien bases on other planets or flying around communicating with extraterrestrials.

Bones on Mars!
The deluge of high-res photos coming back from the Mars Curiosity rover is a treasure trove for scientists, conspiracy theorists and UFOlogists alike. The combination of the social-media age and easier access than ever to our multiple eyes on space (whether the solar observatory or Rosetta) has led to a new golden age in UFO/alien/conspiracy spotting online. New "evidence" seems to pop up weekly on small blogs, and even larger sites like Examiner.com. I've rounded up some of the wackier "sightings" of the past year in this gallery, starting with the above shot from Curiosity, which clearly shows a thigh bone on the Red Planet... unless of course it's just a rock.

Area 51 alien deathbed confession
An interview with a man claiming to be former Lockheed Martin scientist Boyd Bushman surfaced shortly after his death in August. In it, he goes into remarkable detail about his work at Area 51 and interactions with aliens, including photos like the one above. Most incredibly, Bushman claims more than a dozen aliens currently work for the US government. Snopes.com has declared the video a hoax, pointing out that the alien figure shown looks an awful lot like a toy on sale at Walmart. The interview has since been pulled off YouTube, but you can watch some clips here.

Martian petroglyphs
A UFO blog with a Belgian domain picked out what looks a little bit like a sideways petroglyph on a rock from a photo captured by the Curiosity rover on Mars, suggesting that it looks an awful lot like some inscriptions on columns from ancient Egypt.

As evidence for ancient Martians, this is about as strong as supporting the notion of gods living in the sky with last night's cloud that totally looked like a dude with a beard.

Malaysia Airlines UFO interference?
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Stalking the ISS
In recent months, UFOlogists have pointed out multiple cases of weird things appearing in video feeds from the International Space Station, like the spherical object in the shot above that appears for a few minutes before the feed cuts out. NASA has for the most part remained mum, but in the past astronauts have noted that light and other particles floating around space can play tricks on the eyes and photographic equipment. One such incident actually occurred during a space walk, but I've yet to hear the panicked audio tape of astronauts shouting, "What the $#% is that thing?"

Stalking the ISS
In recent months, UFOlogists have pointed out multiple cases of weird things appearing in video feeds from the International Space Station, like the spherical object in the shot above that appears for a few minutes before the feed cuts out. NASA has for the most part remained mum, but in the past astronauts have noted that light and other particles floating around space can play tricks on the eyes and photographic equipment. One such incident actually occurred during a space walk, but I've yet to hear the panicked audio tape of astronauts shouting, "What the $#% is that thing?"

UFO hiding behind the sun
NASA's solar observatory catches lots of spectacular solar flares, and -- sometimes other things. According to UFO Sightings Daily, the abnormality in this image is some sort of craft orbiting the sun...really, really close to the sun. This would seem to present all kinds of problems, but clearly most aliens seem to know what they're doing when it comes to this kind of thing.

The FBI field offices in Albuquerque and in El Paso, Texas, didn't respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, in the vacuum created by the lack of an official explanation, plenty of people on YouTube and social media and in tabloid publications have stepped in to suggest their own.

https://www.cnet.com/news/mysterious-observatory-evacuation-stirs-alien-conspiracy-theories/