NEAR image of the day for 2001 Jan 08

Just Another Sunny Day on Eros

NEAR Shoemaker took this picture looking down the length of Eros on December 30, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 34 kilometers (21 miles). With multiple horizons and the Sun nearly overhead, washing out any shadows, Eros' surface could nearly pass for a desolate desert on Earth. This very superficial similarity belies the incredibly alien environment of the asteroid, with its low gravity (a few thousandths of Earth's gravity), total lack of atmosphere, and rotation period of just over five and one-quarter hours. The whole scene is about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) across.

(Image 0153487731)

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Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR-Shoemaker was the first spacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web site for more details.

Feedback to Scott Murchie. Scott.Murchie@jhuapl.edu.