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Asteroids:
433 Eros
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| This
picture of Eros, taken by NEAR
Shoemaker on January 14, 2001,
from an orbital altitude of 38
kilometers (24 miles), visually
summarizes the unexpected nature
of small-scale features on the
asteroid's surface. Armed with a
prejudice that the Moon's surface
is typical of an airless body,
one might expect Eros' surface to
be dominated at all scales by
craters. Instead, in an image
like this, which shows features
as small as 6 meters (19 feet)
across, the surface is dominated
by a blanket of regolith.
Boulders litter the landscape,
and the smallest craters are
obscured - at times almost beyond
recognition. Many of the low
spots are extremely flat, and
appear infilled. The whole scene
is about 1.1 kilometers (0.7
miles) across. |
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