This mosaic of NEAR Shoemaker images, taken on December 3, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles), provides an overview of the eastern part of the asteroid's southern hemisphere. In this view, south is to the top and the terminator (the imaginary line dividing day from night) lies near the equator. The conspicuous depression just above the center of the frame is the saddle-shaped feature Himeros.

Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the first spacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web page at http://near.jhuapl.edu/ for more details.