PIA02955: The Shape of Eros

Target Name: Eros Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: NEAR Spacecraft: NEAR Shoemaker Instrument: Multi-Spectral Imager Product Size: 883 samples x 497 lines Produced By: Johns Hopkins University/APL Addition Date: 2000-08-05 Primary Data Set: NEAR Home Page Full-Res TIFF: PIA02955.tif (262 kB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA02955.jpg (31.46 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: Looking at a few pictures of Eros under the right lighting conditions gives a reasonable idea of the shape of the asteroid, but analysis of NEAR Shoemaker data requires a very accurate digital model of Eros' shape. This "shape model" helps the NEAR team analyze images and other types of data. For example, comparing the brightness of imaged regions with the orientation of the corresponding parts of the surface, taken from the shape model, allows scientists to determine whether bright areas are due to just surface orientation or also to surface properties. By "filling Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL