NEAR image of the day for 2000 Sep 06
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Inside the Paw, Part I NEAR Shoemaker's camera caught this crater -- nicknamed "the paw" -- during a color imaging sequence on September 2, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 51 kilometers (32 miles). Several smaller craters superimposed on the southern rim of the large, 5.3-kilometer (3.3-mile) diameter impact crater help create a shape that resembles a giant animal footprint, thus the nickname. The bright material is believed to be relatively freshly exposed regolith uncovered after surface material slid down the crater wall. It appears brighter because it has not been exposed to the space environment for as long as the darker areas around it. The whole scene is 1.4 kilometers (0.9 miles) across.
(Image 0143336637)
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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.