Orbit Details

The movie sequence was taken on 7th March 2000 when the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft was in a near circular orbit of Eros with a radius of just over 200 km.

In the image at right, NEAR Shoemaker and Eros are shown as seen from the Sun. Eros's north pole is pointing towards the Sun.

Note: The south side of the asteroid is in shadow. The spacecraft is orbing approximately around Eros's equator, in the same direction as Eros's rotation.

The spacecraft's orbit period is approximately ten days. Eros's rotation period is just over five hours. The ninety minute movie shows about a third of a rotation.