page_title: Regolith
section_title: Asteroids
hierarchical_section_title: Regolith / Asteroids
caption_attribution_description: English: Eros asteroid from approximately 250 meters altitude (area in image is roughly 12 meters across). This image was taken during NEAR's descent to the surface of the asteroid. Polski: Asteroida pl:Eros z wysokości około 250 metrów (obszar na zdjęciu ma 12 metrów szerokości). Zdjęcie wykonane przez NEAR Shoemaker tuż przed lądowaniem na powierzchni.
context_page_description: Regolith is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons.
context_section_description: Asteroids have regoliths developed by meteoroid impact.  The final images taken by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft of the surface of Eros are the best images of the regolith of an asteroid.  The recent Japanese Hayabusa mission also returned clear images of regolith on an asteroid so small it was thought that gravity was too low to develop and maintain a regolith.  The asteroid 21 Lutetia has a layer of regolith near its north pole, which flows in landslides associated with variations in albedo.
caption: Taken from just 250 m above the surface of Eros as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft was landing, this image shows an area that is only 12 m across.
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