Observatory Intruders Caught

There were strange things showing up on the telescopic images at the Smithsonian’s Whipple Observatory in Arizona, but astronomers knew they weren’t UFOs. An unidentified perpetrator had been leaving dusty footprints on the telescope’s mirrors for a year, eventually marring five expensive mirrors. Over the summer, employees at the observatory set out traps and captured ringtail cats on three occasions. The ringtail cat {wiki} is the official state mammal of Arizona. They are related to raccoons. The captured animals were taken some distance away from the observatory and released.

“We’re considering making the ringtail cat the unofficial mascot of the MEarth project,” said project leader David Charbonneau. “With those big eyes, they’ve certainly got the night vision to be natural-born astronomers!”

The observatory now has a webcam, in case anyone wants to watch for more intruders. Link (with video) -via Metafilter