The asteroid's density is 2.4 times greater than water. While NEAR Shoemaker orbits Eros, the asteroid appears too large for the camera's field of view. In order to get a complete view of the surface from a particular vantage point, several images are mosaicked. The density of giant craters on Eros is not as high as on Mathilde, but there are noticeably more than were seen on Gaspra. The NEAR data show that Eros has an older surface than Gaspra - Eros has been exposed to bombardment by other asteroids for a longer period of time.
Numerous boulders litter the pockmarked surface.
NEAR's cameras have also revealed nearly parallel markings, chains of small craters or pits, and grooves. One interpretation is that Eros has a layered internal structure which was produced while Eros was part of a much larger parent body that was broken up long ago by a gigantic collision. On 23 January 2000, this main belt asteroid was observed by the Cassini spacecraft from a distance of 1.6 million kilometers. It is probably an S-type object. 1898 Other famous asteroids 1 Ceres.