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Immediately after a critical braking maneuver today,
February 3, the imager on the NEAR spacecraft snapped this
image of the asteroid 433 Eros from a distance of
approximately 5,590 miles (8,950 km). In images like this
one, the position of Eros is being tracked against the star
background to accurately locate the relative position of
the spacecraft.
At this image’s resolution of 0.6 miles (0.9 km) per pixel,
details of the asteroid’s surface are beginning to be
resolved. A small impact crater is visible near the upper
edge of the asteroid, and irregularities in the outline of
the “saddle” near the terminator are becoming clearer.
This saddle is an indentation in the asteroid that gives
Eros its characteristic “peanut” shape.
