Hackers are the new pirates. They’re a little bit mysterious, slightly edgy and dangerous, and more than a tiny bit annoying, if they’re coming after you.

Now they’re coming after space telescopes, and no one really knows why.

Scientists have temporarily been forced to put ten observatories in Hawaii and Chile out of commission because, for the past three weeks, their telescopes have been targeted.

Though researchers aren’t sure why someone would want to shut down astronomical research, they are looking for answers. The shutdowns have thus far interrupted international projects, doctoral theses, and other papers as well.

Some of these projects will have to be shelved indefinitely, as they contained narrow time windows for very specific observations.

The affected labs include federally supported ones, like NOIRLab in Hawaii. Spokespeople for the lab have declined to elaborate on the nature of the attack or whether or not they have heard from the hackers with any demands.

Von Welch, a retired lead of NSF Cybersecurity, wonders whether or not it could even be random.

“Quite possibly, the attacker doesn’t even know they are attacking an observatory.”

Though this has not historically been an issue for astronomers, these incidents likely have postdocs like Luis Wellbanks scrambling to implement more cybersecurity protocols.

“When people are like, ‘Oh, where’s the data?’ Then I’ll have to say, ‘Well, I don’t have any data because a hacker somewhere took down the computer. I don’t know if any hiring committee will be sympathetic to that.”

Only time will tell.

Honestly, everyone is probably holding their breath and hoping it doesn’t happen again.