NEAR image of the day for 2000 Sep 21
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Flat and Smooth NEAR Shoemaker obtained the two images in this mosaic on September 16, 2000, from a vantage point 100 kilometers (62 miles) above Eros. This view shows one of the asteroid's ends, and is interesting because the area appears very flat and smooth, with few impact craters. The largest craters (one just left of center and another at bottom right) have degraded to where they no longer have rims, which implies that they are relatively old. The shallow concave area in the upper middle of the mosaic is the outline of the boulder-strewn region highlighted on April 4, 2000.
(Mosaic of images 144528837, 144528713)
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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.