433 Eros

The asteroid 433 Eros was named after the Greek god of love Eros. It is an S-type asteroid approximately 13 × 13 × 33 km in size, the second-largest near-Earth asteroid. It is also a Mars-crosser asteroid.

This picture of Eros shows the view looking from one end of the asteroid across the gouge on its underside and toward the opposite end.

It was visited by the NEAR Shoemaker probe, which first orbited it taking extensive photographs of its surface and then on February 12th 2001 at the end of its mission was landed on the asteroid's surface using only its maneuvering jets.

Surface gravity depends on the distance from a spot on the surface to the center of a body's mass. The surface gravity on Eros varies a lot, since it is not a sphere but an elongated peanut-shaped (or potato- or shoe-shaped) object. The daytime temperature on Eros hovers at about 100 °C and nighttime measurements at −150 °C. Eros's density is 2,400 kg/m³, about the same as the density of Earth's crust. It rotates once every 5.27 hours.

NEAR scientists have found that most of the larger rocks strewn across Eros were ejected from a single crater in a meteorite collision perhaps 1 Ga (1 billion years) ago.

Eros is claimed as property by Gregory W. Nemitz of OrbDev . According to the Homestead principle, he wishes to charge NASA a parking and storage fee of 20 cents per year for the presence of NEAR Shoemaker on the asteroid. He is currently engaged in litigation to get his claim validated by the courts.

See also: List of geological features on 433 Eros

External links

• NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft
• NEAR image of the day archive
• Movie: NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft landing
• The Eros Project (OrbDev's attempts at litigation over their property claim)