Views of 433-Eros

This montage of images of the asteroid Eros was assembled from images acquired by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Spacecraft on December 23, 1998, as the Spacecraft flew by the asteroid at a distance of 2300 miles (3800 Km) at 1:43 PM EST. Shown are nine early views out of 29 that were obtained during the flyby. These images were taken between 10:44 AM and 12:44 PM EST, as the Spacecraft range closed from 7300 miles (such as abou 11.100) Km, to 3300 miles (such as approx. 5300 Km).

During that time, the Asteroid completed nearly half of a rotation. The smallest resolved detail is approximately 1650 feet (500 meters) across.

A firing of the main engine at 17:00, EST, on December 20, 1998, designed to slow the Spacecraft for insertion into orbit around the Asteroid, was aborted by the Spacecraft. Contact with ground controllers was temporarily lost, but was regained at 20:00 EST on December 21, when autonomous Spacecraft safety protocols took over and transmitted a signal to the ground. All spacecraft systems were determined to be healthy and operational.

Within hours, a flyby observation sequence was developed and uploaded to the Spacecraft.

1026 images were acquired by the Multispectral Imager, to determine the size, shape, morphology, rotational state, and color properties of Eros, and to search for small moons.

The Infrared Spectrometer measured spectral properties of the Asteroid to determine what minerals were present, and the Magnetometer searched for a natural Magnetic Field.

Analysis of the Spacecraft radio signal were also used to determine the asteroid's mass and density.

The main engine was fired successfully on January 3, 1999, placing NEAR on-course for a February 2000 rendezvous.

Eros is NEAR's second asteroid encountered. On June 27, 1997, NEAR flew by the Main-Belt Asteroid Mathilde at a range of approx. 1212 Km (750 miles).