Spacecraft down at 0542 GMT, the BBC says:

Astronomers are now analysing a plume of fresh lunar “soil”, or regolith, kicked up by the crash. They have also been looking for the bright flash as the probe hit the surface. The impact was expected to leave a 3m by 10m crater on the Moon’s surface, spreading debris over 78 sq km (30 sq miles).

The Planetary Society reports:

SMART-1 scientist Detlef Koschy confirmed that mission control lost the SMART-1 signal at 10:42:19. He reported that folks at ESOC applauded when the “mission ended just as planned.” Team members at ESOC are now downloading final pictures. SMART-1 took images up to about 5 minutes before impact.

Astrobiology Magazine reports:

The European Space Agency’s Smart-1 mission ended on September 3rd 2006, at 07:42 CEST (05:42 UT). Its final lunar resting place is located at 46.2º West longitude and 34.2º South latitude.

Update: the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea has the following image of the impact!

By my reckoning SMART-1 will impact the moon at 15:43 Melbourne time (also see the BBC report).

Farewell Pluto, now demoted to being merely a dwarf planet.

I guess we should think ourselves lucky it’s not red. 🙂

The Planetary Society is reporting some really interesting news:

Saturn’s moon Titan was once thought to conceal a global ocean of methane and ethane beneath its smoggy atmosphere. However, while the landforms seen by Cassini and Huygens show ample evidence of past modification by the action of flowing liquids, actual bodies of present liquid have proven elusive through more than two years of investigation. Until now. During a July 22, 2006 flyby, Cassini’s RADAR instrument has finally unveiled what appears to be a land of lakes in Titan’s northern polar regions.

Pretty neat stuff, and this image is a neat example of some of the data they’ve got..