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. |