NEAR image of the day for 2000 Jul 24

Craters and Grooves

Highly oblique lighting in NEAR Shoemaker's images of Eros brings out details of the asteroid's surface landforms, sometimes very starkly. This obliquely lit picture of craters and grooves was taken July 5, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 51 kilometers (32 miles). Although the terrain is gently rolling, the long shadows make it appear almost mountainously rough. The whole scene is about 1.8 kilometers (1.2 miles) across.

(Image 0138201024)

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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.