© USAF/Reuters
1972 photo of a Viking space probe at White Sands Missile Range, near the Sunspot Observatory, during the so called "Roswell Incident" of 1947.
After weeks of wild online speculation about aliens, extra-dimensional portals, and FBI cover-ups, the Sunspot Solar Observatory will finally reopen on Monday, but netizens are dissatisfied with the official explanation.
"AURA has been cooperating with an ongoing law enforcement investigation of criminal activity that occurred at Sacramento Peak," the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) wrote in an
online statement on Sunday.
"During this time, we became
concerned that a suspect in the investigation potentially posed a threat to the safety of local staff and residents. For this reason, AURA temporarily vacated the facility and ceased science activities at this location." It should be noted that AURA declined to mention whether the suspect was of extraterrestrial origin.
Given the observatory's remote location in the mountainous Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico, this explanation may have been at least somewhat plausible, were it not for the
bizarre way in which the FBI handled the September 6 evacuation of the observatory and nearby residents.
Even the local Sheriff, who was kept in the dark about the investigation throughout, was skeptical.
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