Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous

NEAR image of the day for 2000 Nov 21

The Big Valley

NEAR Shoemaker's imager took this picture on November 18, 2000, from a vantage point 194 kilometers (120 miles) above the southern part of Eros' western hemisphere. The curvature of this part of Eros makes the asteroid look like a bent peanut. The scene is 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles) across; the depth of field between the foreground (at right) and the horizon (at left) is nearly 30 kilometers (about 18 miles). While the imager was snapping this photo, the spacecraft's laser altimeter was measuring topography.

(Image 0149942894)

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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.