The above images show sunlight momentarily reflected from this spacecraft's solar panels. Launched in 1996, NEAR zipped past the asteroid 253 Mathilde last June. This Earth flyby gravitationally deflects NEAR onto a trajectory passing the asteroid 433 Eros next year. Above, NEAR appears to move through the constellation of Perseus , as clouds created a changing diffuse white glow. NEAR was only visible for about 2 minutes from San Jose , California, where these image-intensified video camera observations were taken.
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