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: http://www.sai.msu.su/apod/ap000205.html
Дата изменения: Unknown Дата индексирования: Mon Oct 1 22:06:23 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: vallis |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: On December 23, 1998 the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft flew by asteroid 433 Eros. The robotic spacecraft was intended to brake and orbit Eros, but an unexpected shutdown of its main engine caused this plan to be aborted. Now closing with the asteroid again, NEAR will make another attempt to enter Eros' orbit on February 14th ... Valentine's Day, of course! A successful encounter would make NEAR the first spacecraft ever to orbit an asteroid. This image sequence was taken as NEAR approached Eros in 1998. The rotation of the asteroid is visible in the successive frames. While cruising through the solar system, NEAR has also been hunting for gamma-ray bursts as part of the operational Interplanetary Network.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.:
Jay Norris.
Specific rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA/
GSFC
&
Michigan Tech. U.