Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. As the robot spacecraft NEAR lowers itself toward asteroid 433 Eros , more surface details are becoming visible. Last week's maneuvers brought NEAR to within 204 kilometers of the floating mountain's surface . With increased resolution, NEAR's camera then documented Eros' unusual shape , craters large and small, boulders , and mysterious grooves similar to asteroid Gaspra and Martian moon Phobos . If you could stand on Eros , you would still be too small to be visible on this recent image , which shows features as small as 20 meters across.
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