PIA02931: Zebra Saddle


Zebra Saddle

Caption:

Within Eros' "saddle" - the large indentation in the peanut-shaped asteroid - diverse landscapes and brightness contrasts defy preconceived ideas of asteroids as mere cratered space rocks. NEAR Shoemaker took this image of the southwestern wall of the saddle on June 19, 2000, from an altitude of 51 kilometers (32 miles). The saddle wall contains bands of bright regolith, which may be exposed subsurface material yet to experience the "darkening" effects of surface impacts and solar wind. The whole scene is approximately 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles) across.

Background Info:

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.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target 433 Eros
System Near Earth Objects
Target Type Asteroid
Mission NEAR Shoemaker
Instrument Host NEAR Shoemaker
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Impact
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2000-07-06
Date in Caption 2000-06-19
Image Credit NASA/JPL/JHUAPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02931
Identifier PIA02931