This is a mosaic of the main belt asteroid 253 Mathilde made up of four images returned by the NEAR spacecraft during its flyby. The images were taken on 27 June 1997 from a distance of 2400 km. The portion of the asteroid visible is about 59 x 47 km and the resolution is roughly 300 m. The crater at center is estimated to be 10 km deep. These large craters, the abundance of smaller craters, and the angular shape point to a history of heavy bombardment.
Lighting is from the upper right.