Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... Credit: NEAR Project , JHU APL , NASA Explanation: Since April 30, the robotic NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft has been orbiting only 31 miles from asteroid Eros . ... While gathering sharp pictures of Eros' surface, experimenters will also take advantage of the close orbit to explore the asteroid's surface composition and internal structure, and search for a magnetic field. ... 1999 2000 . ... Publications with keywords: 433 Eros - asteroid . ... Asteroid and Galaxy . ...