Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... Credit: NEAR Project , JHU APL , NASA Explanation: On February 14th, the NEAR spacecraft became the first artificial moon of an asteroid . Captured by the gentle gravity of a 20 mile long slipper-shaped mountain of rock, NEAR recorded this premier image while orbiting asteroid 433 Eros at a distance of about 200 miles. The image shows features as small as 100 feet across in a view dominated by a 3 mile wide crater near Eros' narrow waist. ... February . ...