Hackers Just Took Down One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes

The website of the ALMA observatory in Chile has been taken offline due to a cyberattack.

Email services were limited in the wake of the hack.

ALMA is one of the most powerful and advanced radio telescopes in the world because it is located high up on a mountain. ALMA aided in taking the first image of a black hole in the year 2019.

The observatory said that the 66 high-precision antennas, each nearly 40 feet in diameter, were not compromised.

In High Places

ALMA's specialty is in observing the light of the cooler substances of the universe. ALMA is a great place to take pictures of the fascinating formations of planets and stars when they first appear.

The European Southern Observatory, ALMA's primary operators, says that it has become the largest ground-based astronomy project in the world.

The ALMA going offline is bad news for the thousands of astronomer around the world that rely on its observations. It is not yet possible to estimate a date for a return to regular activities since it is not up and running yet.

There is no information on who the hackers were or how they did it. Their motives are still a mystery.

Astronomers think they've found the youngest planet in the universe.