Two different views of asteroid 253 Mathilde NEAR Image 5
Matd01 Two different views of asteroid 253 Mathilde were obtained by the NEAR spacecraft on June 27, 1997.
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Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.  

The image at left was obtained as the spacecraft approached Mathilde with its camera pointed near the direction of the Sun; only a few of the prominent ridges on Mathilde are illuminated. The visible area at left is 29 km high, and the phase angle (the angle from Sun-Mathilde- spacecraft) is 136°. As the spacecraft receded from Mathilde, it observed the asteroid (about 60 km across) almost fully lit by the Sun at a phase angle of 43° (right image). Mathilde's irregular shape results from a long history of severe collisions with smaller asteroids. The largest visible crater is 30 km in diameter.  
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