Several hundred more are discovered each year. The digital images show that while many regions appear smooth with craters filled in by an accumulation of loose regolith, much of Eros' surface is littered with rocks and boulders. The large boulder glinting in the sunlight at the far left, just above the center of the mosaic, spans approximately 25 meters. The car-sized Near Shoemaker spacecraft is now on its way to a higher, more stable orbit about 200 kilometers above asteroid Eros. Amateur asteroid hunters part of new golden age of astronomy - Amateur astronomers can make an important contribution to asteroid research.
Dedicated amateurs make a real contribution to science from their own back yard.
Massive rocks have pounded the planets for centuries, but humans have never witnessed an actual impact until nearby Jupiter was pummeled. But we now realize that these small, rocky bodies hold important clues to the nature of our planetary system and its earliest history. They have even been linked to the dinosaurs' demise and to the potential catastrophic end of our own civilization. Copyright 2001 - Samuel J. Wormley, Iowa State University. All rights reserved.