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Second Eros Flyover Movie
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On March 7, 2000, the imager on the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft acquired this second of several planned "flyover movies" of Eros. This flyover shows the zero-degree longitude end of the asteroid and its western hemisphere from a range of 205 kilometers (127 miles). The northern hemisphere is toward the bottom of the frame and the southern hemisphere is toward the top. The changing lighting conditions during the movie allow the viewer to clearly distinguish the brightness variations due to topography and reflectivity of the surface. Notice, for example, how the bright patch in the crater on the asteroid's end passes out of view halfway through the movie. Notice also the bright streaks on the interior wall of the large, 5.5-kilometer (3.4-mile) crater, which comes into view at the same time. Both features retain their contrast with the surroundings even as the lighting changes and each crater begins to be shadowed, showing that the features are in fact surface markings.(Product of images 0127875126 through 0127878508)
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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 at APL.