Eros: Colour at Higher Resolution PIA02492
Eros16 As the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft descends into lower orbits around Eros, it continually returns higher spatial resolution images of the asteroid. The true colour image on the left was taken 12 February 2000, from a range of 1,748 km, and shows details only as small as 180 m across.
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Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University / Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA.  

The image was taken two days before orbit insertion, as part of an image sequence designed to provide moderate-resolution colour mapping of Eros at a near-constant viewing geometry. The true colour image inset on the right was taken February 29 from a range of 283 km and shows much smaller details only 27 m across. The higher spatial resolution (by a factor of six) brings out a whole class of surface details that were either invisible or at the margin of visibility in the earlier images. For example, the bright material on the wall of the large crater in the inset image is barely evident in the lower-resolution image at left, but by virtue of its limited spatial coverage the inset image lacks information on the crater's regional geologic setting. NEAR Shoemaker's imaging strategy makes use of both types of images, with lower-resolution images providing "context" for higher-resolution images that bring specific features into sharper focus.  
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