‘Spectral lines’ and a giant plume: what science saw when the SpaceX rocket hit the moon

Sodium and lithium gas was detected in a plume thought to span tens of kilometres, created when part of a SpaceX rocket crashed into the lunar surface

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).

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