The "First Image" of Eros

This first image of the Asteroid 433 Eros was acquired by the Multispectral Imager on the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Spacecraft on November 5, 1998, at a distance of 2,5 MMS (about 4 MKM) from the Asteroid.
Eros, located at the center of the image and circled, appears against the star background in a single illuminated pixel.
At the time of the image, NEAR was located 200 MMs (about 321 MKM) from Earth, and the radio signal which transmitted the image from the Spacecraft, took nearly 18 minutes to reach Earth.
The image is a part of a 5,3-hour sequence of images that show Eros over one full rotation.

Repeated imaging of Eros through January, 1999, were used to refine knowledge of NEAR's trajectory relative to the Asteroid and to plan firings of the Spacecraft's engines to slow the craft and place it into orbit.

At the time, NEAR was approaching Eros at a rate of 2100 mph (945 meters per second). Three firings of NEAR's engines, which begun on December 20, 1998, slew the Spacecraft velocity relative to the Asteroid to approx. 10 miles per hour (such as 5 meters per second), until the orbit insertion, which occurred on January 10, 1999.