Click on the image for a bigger pictureNEAR Rendevous with asteroid Eros: 12 February 2001
from the NEAR WWW site: http://near2.jhuapl.edu/
The touchdown site
Click on the image for a bigger picture
When NEAR Shoemaker makes its controlled descent to the surface of Eros on February 12, 2001, it will do so at the boundary of two distinctly different geologic provinces of the asteroid. The main image shows the touchdown site (yellow circle) on the edge of the saddle-shaped feature Himeros. The inset is a mosaic of eight images showing the site in the context of the eastern part of the southern hemisphere. In both views, south is to the top, and the terminator (the imaginary line dividing day from night) falls near the equator. To the south lies heavily cratered terrain at southern mid-latitudes. To the north (bottom) is the interior of Himeros, whose lower density of superposed craters indicates relatively recent geologic activity.
NEAR Shoemaker captured this movie on December 3-4, 2000, while in orbit 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the center of Eros. Covering a full rotation of the 21-mile-long asteroid, the movie opens with a look at one of Eros' battered ends and a sweep over the saddle-shaped depression named Himeros. The sequence then includes a view of Shoemaker Regio - the large boulder patch beside Himeros - before swinging over the opposite end and providing a stunning view of a sunset inside Psyche, the asteroid's large, 5-kilometer (3-mile) impact crater. The movie wraps up with a return to the asteroid's heavily cratered tip.
Final Eros images
NEAR Shoemaker took this image of asteroid 433 Eros from a range of 1,150 meters (3,773 feet). The image is 54 meters (177 feet) across. The large rock at lower left is 7.4 meters (24 feet) across.
NEAR Shoemaker's image of asteroid 433 Eros taken from a range of 700 meters (2,300 feet). The image is 33 meters (108 feet) across. The large, oblong rock casting a big shadow measures 7.4 meters (24 feet) across.
NEAR Shoemaker's image of asteroid 433 Eros taken from a range of 250 meters (820 feet). The image is 12 meters (39 feet) across. The cluster of rocks at the upper right measures 1.4 meters (5 feet) across.
This is the last image of asteroid 433 Eros received from NEAR Shoemaker. Taken from a range of 120 meters (394 feet), it measures 6 meters (20 feet) across. What we can see of the rock at the top of image measures 4 meters (12 feet) across. The streaky lines at the bottom indicate loss of signal as the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid during transmission of this image.
For Primary Students: Build a Model of Eros
For Primary Students: Build a model of the NEAR spacecraft
Print these three files:
Paste onto stiff cardboard
Cut and fold
More Free Spacecraft Model Kits: click here
Written by Stephen R. Kessell
Updated 14 February, 2001
