The Hubble Space Telescope is currently offline.

On Sunday 13 June, the telescope’s payload computer went offline, and engineers here on Earth are currently performing operations to get it up and running again.

The payload computer, as you might expect, is vital to Hubble’s continued science operations. It’s the ‘brains’ of the instrument, coordinating and controlling the various instruments with which Hubble is equipped. It also monitors the telescope for issues.