PIA02951: Eros: Closest View Yet! (36 km altitude)


Eros: Closest View Yet! (36 km altitude)

Caption:

In NEAR Shoemaker's long-awaited close-up images of Eros, the asteroid's small-scale features are revealing their fascinating diversity. This picture, taken July 8, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 36 kilometers (22 miles), shows a variety of differently shaped boulders. Some are nearly round, whereas others are elongated or even blade-shaped. Such varied shapes might arise from differences in the strength and fracturing of preexisting rock. The whole scene is 1.4 kilometers (0.8 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 Grayscale
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2000-08-05
Date in Caption 2000-07-08
Image Credit NASA/JPL/JHUAPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02951
Identifier PIA02951