Part of a SpaceX rocket collided with the Moon, observatories confirmed
Observatories at Paranal and ESO recorded flashes and spectral traces of sodium and lithium
An errant piece of a SpaceX rocket collided with the Moon while traveling in orbit at a speed of about 8,690 kilometers per hour, two observatories confirmed. It was the upper, spent stage of the Falcon 9 spacecraft.
The piece is the size of a five-story building and weighs at least four tons
Descriptions say the upper stage was approximately the size of a five-story building and had a mass of at least four tons. The collision produced a brief flash, which was recorded by ground-based telescopes rather than by any spacecraft already in lunar orbit.
None of the several spacecraft orbiting the Moon were positioned to capture close-up images of the impact. However, the Paranal Observatory in Chile and the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) detected flashes of light associated with the impact.
"We can confirm that the telescope detected spectral lines of sodium and lithium gas in the impact cloud, which persisted for 5–10 minutes," an ESO spokesperson said.
The observations of sodium and lithium lines in the impact cloud provide impetus for further analyses of how high-speed impacts alter the chemical and physical characteristics of the lunar surface. Researchers will continue processing the data to more precisely characterize the event.
Photo: AP
