A mysterious 11-day closure of a New Mexico solar observatory stemmed from an FBI investigation of a janitor suspected of using the facility's wireless internet service to send and receive child pornography, federal court documents showed on Wednesday.
The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, was evacuated without public explanation on Sept. 6, leading to a swirl of social media speculation and rumors driven by its proximity to two U.S. military installations and the town of Roswell.
Approximately two hours away from the observatory by car, Roswell was the site of a famous 1947 sighting of unidentified flying objects that the U.S. Air Force later said were top-secret high-altitude weather balloons.