A telescope in Chile has captured evidence of the impact caused by part of a SpaceX rocket slamming into the moon while travelling at 8,690km/h (5,400mph).

智利一台望远镜捕捉到了SpaceX火箭一部分以8,690公里/小时的速度撞击月球所产生的影响证据。

The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope observed "spectral lines" – a colourful illustration of the sodium and lithium gas – in the plume of lunar dust stirred up by the impact.

欧洲南方天文台（ESO）的甚大望远镜观测到了撞击激起的月球尘埃羽流中的“光谱线”——即钠气和锂气的彩色呈现。

The ESO telescope recorded these "chemical fingerprints" of the plume, which were visible for five to 10 minutes, the observatory said. The plume measured a few tens of kilometres in size, according to Carl Schmidt, an astronomer from Boston University's Center for Space Physics.

该天文台表示，ESO望远镜记录下了这些羽流的“化学指纹”，它们持续可见了5到10分钟。 波士顿大学空间物理中心的天文学家卡尔·施密特称，该羽流的大小约为几十公里。

Benjamin Fernando of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, said earlier the collision could provide valuable data for future seismic experiments, and assessing "hazards from artificial space debris impacts". Nasa hopes to soon establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, making it critical to better understand space debris in lunar orbit.

新墨西哥州洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的本杰明·费尔南多此前表示，这次碰撞可能为未来的地震学实验以及评估“人造太空碎片撞击的危害”提供宝贵数据。 美国宇航局（NASA）希望在月球上尽快建立可持续的人类存在，因此更好地了解月球轨道上的太空碎片至关重要。

The impact occurred near the moon's terminator line, or the boundary of its shadow between the sunlit side and its far side. Similar to past objects that have hit the moon, the rocket stage kicked up a plume of lunar dust that was briefly illuminated by sunlight, but difficult to spot with the naked eye from Earth.

撞击发生在月球明暗界线附近，也就是阳光照射面与背面之间的阴影边界。 与以往撞击月球的物体类似，这枚火箭级激起了月球尘埃羽流，羽流被阳光短暂照亮，但从地球上用肉眼很难看到。

Numerous satellites were orbiting the moon but none were in the right place at the right time to witness the crash, which occurred about 6.35am GMT on Wednesday. The piece of the rocket was the height of a five-storey building and weighed four tonnes.

多颗卫星正在环绕月球运行，但没有一颗在正确的时间和正确的位置目击这次撞击，撞击发生在格林尼治标准时间周三早上6时35分左右。 这枚火箭碎片有五层楼高，重达四吨。

Nasa and its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter probe and South Korea's Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter are planning to take images of the site after impact, which may show the wreckage of the rocket, but it could take days to receive that information.

NASA及其月球勘测轨道飞行器探测器，以及韩国的探路者月球轨道飞行器，计划在撞击后对现场进行成像，这可能会显示火箭的残骸，但获取这些信息可能需要数天时间。

However, the manner in which the impact plume interacted with the sunlight allowed astronomers to glean some clues about its composition.

然而，撞击羽流与阳光相互作用的方式，让天文学家得以从中获得一些关于其成分的线索。

The sodium gas in the spectra is believed to have originated from the lunar soil, while the traces of lithium may have come from ‌the rocket stage itself, Schmidt said.

施密特表示，光谱中的钠气体被认为来自月球土壤，而锂的痕迹可能来自火箭级本身。

"This observation did not go perfectly and this is a very crude analysis, but I wanted to share something quickly, and we can say more about these results in time," Schmidt said.

“这次观测并不完美，这是一次非常粗略的分析，但我还是想尽快分享一些结果，日后我们可以对这些结果进行更详细的说明，”施密特说。

Scientists and amateur stargazers had been eagerly looking forward to observing the plume of rubble and debris created by the smash.

科学家和天文爱好者们此前一直热切期待观测这次撞击所产生的碎石与碎片羽流。

The Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's SpaceX launched in January 2025 carrying two lunar landers. Its booster returned to Earth, but the upper stage stayed in space to push the landers onward.

埃隆·马斯克的SpaceX公司的猎鹰9号火箭于2025年1月发射，搭载了两台月球着陆器。 其助推器返回了地球，但上级火箭级留在太空中，将着陆器继续向前推送。

The rocket stage was just one of tens of thousands of pieces of "space junk" orbiting Earth. The moon routinely weathers impact from space debris including meteoroids. However, artificial collisions are less common.

这枚火箭级只是绕地球运行的数万块“太空垃圾”中的一块。 月球经常承受包括流星体在内的太空碎片的撞击。 然而，人造物体的碰撞则较为少见。