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First Eros Rotation Movie: MPEG (3.6 MB) || QuickTime (3.3 MB) On Jan 12 the multispectral imager on the NEAR spacecraft acquired the first in a series of rotation movies that will be taken during NEAR's approach to the asteroid 433 Eros. When these images were acquired, NEAR was approximately 27,500 miles (44,000 km) from the asteroid so Eros still appeared very small. The movie was created from 720 images, one every 1/2° of Eros's rotation for one rotation or Eros "day." The time index at the bottom indicates when each frame was acquired in Greenwich Mean Time.
Even at this low resolution the highly irregular shape of Eros is apparent. Over the next 4 weeks Eros will appear larger and larger until the spacecraft goes into orbit on Valentine's Day (February 14th). Several more movies at progressively higher resolutions will be acquired over the next month.
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Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the first spacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web page at http://near.jhuapl.edu for more details. Feedback to Scott Murchie. Scott.Murchie@jhuapl.edu.