NEAR image of the day for 2000 Mar 23
First Eros Flyover Movie
On March 7, 2000, the imager on the NEAR Shoemaker
spacecraft acquired the first of several planned "flyover
movies" of Eros. This one shows the "saddle" region from a
range of 205 kilometers (127 miles). A flyover's purpose is
to show a region of the asteroid during continually changing
lighting conditions, with solar illumination coming from a
variety of directions and elevations above the surface. With
the Sun in different positions, features with different
orientations become more evident. Also, with the Sun low to
the surface, brightness variations are dominated by the
shadows cast by landforms. In contrast, with the Sun high in
the sky, brightness differences are dominated by the
intrinsic differences in reflectivity of the surface
materials. The combination of illuminations maximizes the
ability to characterize landforms and to separate the effects
of topography from differences in reflectivity.
