NEAR image of the day for 2001 Jan 18

A Washboard Surface

NEAR Shoemaker snapped this picture of Eros on January 9, 2001, from an orbital altitude of 35 kilometers (22 miles). The Sun is low in the sky to the left, creating shadows that bring out a hummocky, almost washboard-like texture to the landscape. The hummocky surface is the cumulative result of eons of cratering and blanketing of the craters by fragmental debris or "regolith." The whole scene is about 1.4 kilometers (0.9 miles) across.

(Image 0154417558)

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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.