The circumstances surrounding the sudden closure of a New Mexico observatory last week remain a mystery, and the fact that the FBI is involved and no one is talking has whipped the internet into a froth of theories that span everything from aliens to Chinese spies.

The National Solar Observatory’s Sunspot facility was closed Sept. 6 due to what authorities said was a security issue, and its employees were relocated without any explanation.

According to the Otero County Sheriff’s Office, which was called to help monitor the evacuation, the FBI was involved, but the agency isn’t commenting.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) manages the observatory, which calls itself the “premier facility for solar research” because of the powerful Dunn Solar Telescope.

The facility, tucked among the trees of the Sacramento Mountains, was closed “due to a security issue,” and officials decided to vacate the facility “as a precautionary measure,” Shari Lifson, a spokesperson for AURA, said in a statement.

“It was our decision to evacuate the facility,” she said.

On Friday, AURA also announced that the observatory will remain closed until further notice due to "an ongoing security concern."



The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and all of its other facilities remain open, including the Apache Point Observatory, which is about a mile away from Sunspot. But that has fueled even more questions and speculation about what exactly happened on Sacramento Peak.

Sunspot on Thursday issued a statement thanking the public for its patience while the closure is “resolved.”

An all-capped announcement of its closure remains bannered across its sparse, vague website, adding that the Sunspot Solar Observatory “continues to work closely with AURA in order to allow for us to reopen as soon as possible.”

But as for what’s going on — nothing.

“Nobody — the observatory, the FBI — nobody, is giving us details as to what is going on,” Otero County Sheriff Benny House told BuzzFeed News Thursday, noting that his department was asked to go “up there stand by” as the employees were leaving.



The call, while not extraordinary, was a bit odd since “they’re not federal employees.”

“The FBI was there, but for what purpose we don’t know,” he said. “They were gone when we got there and we reached out to them and they didn’t tell us anything.”

Adding fuel to the mystery, officers also saw a Black Hawk helicopter, which is used by the military, flying overhead. House pointed out that its presence was not “necessarily unusual” since there is a US Air Force base nearby and the military does train in the area.

“But the timing and location is a very weird coincidence,” he said.