Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous

NEAR image of the day for 2001 Jan 02

Happy Holidays, From Eros

NEAR Shoemaker took this spectacular picture of a spot just inside the rim of Eros' "saddle" region on December 25, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 38 kilometers (24 miles). This region of the asteroid is densely littered with rocks having a variety of sizes and shapes. Very few impact craters of any size are observed here, showing that the surface has been reworked relatively recently in Eros' history. The whole scene is about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) across.

(Image 0153130598)

Previous     ||     Next     ||     Image archive     ||     TIFF image


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.