Planet name 433 and diameter. Minor planets

Eros (minor planet No. 433)

Eros(Eros), minor planet No. 433, discovered in 1898 by the amateur astronomer G. Witt in Berlin. E. is one of the minor planets terrestrial group, which in their movement around the Sun can come close to the Earth. The period of revolution of Earth around the Sun is 1.76 years, the semi-major axis is 1.46 a. e., eccentricity 0.22, inclination to the ecliptic plane 10°, 8. At aphelion, E. goes beyond the orbit of Mars. E.'s perihelion distance is only 0.14 AU. e. exceeds the semimajor axis of the Earth's orbit. The greatest approaches of Earth to the Earth (favorable oppositions) occur after 37 years and were observed in 1894, 1930-31, 1967-68. E.'s proximity to the Earth made it a convenient object for determining solar parallax. In 1950, the American astronomer E. Rabe, having processed E.'s observations for 1926-45, obtained a solar parallax value of 8"",79835 ± 0"",00058, close to the generally accepted value of 8"",80 at that time. Later, the calculations were repeated based on observations of 1926-65, and the new parallax value of 8"",79417 ± 0"",00018 (Rabe, Francis), completely coincided with the results of radar determinations. E. is a relatively bright minor planet: its brilliance is in opposition (see. Configurations in astronomy) ranges from 6.7 to 11.3 magnitude depending on the distance to the Earth and the orientation of the planet. E. is the first small planet for which periodic changes in brightness were discovered (1901). The maximum amplitude of the brightness change is 1.5 magnitude, period 5 hours 16 minutes. A study of the light curve, which has two maxima and two minima per period, led astronomers to the conclusion that E. is a rotating elongated body. This was later confirmed by direct observations. Observations of the occultations of stars (E. is the first small planet for which this phenomenon was observed) made it possible to establish that the contour of the visible edge of the Earth has irregular shape

, resembling a dumbbell with diameters of 21 and 13 km.

Lit.: Minor planets. Sat., ed. N. S. Samoilova-Yakhontova, M., 1973.

Yu. V. Batrakov.

Eros Eros (mythological) , in ancient Greek mythology, the god of love; cm.

Eros.

Eros (second name of minor planet No. 433) Eros, a rarely used name for a minor planet No. 433 ().

Eros

Eros (second name of minor planet No. 433) Eros, in ancient Greek mythology, the god of love, the personification of love attraction, ensuring the continuation of life on earth. According to Hesiod's Theogony, E. was born from Chaos; according to other versions of the myth, E. came from Hermes and Artemis or from Ares and Aphrodite. E. was depicted as young, playful with golden wings, a bow, quiver and arrows, which inevitably amazed both people and the gods themselves, instilling in them a love passion. Allegorically, E. is love. From E. - eroticism, eroticism, erotic poetry. In ancient Roman mythology, E. corresponds to Amur And Cupid.

Ero"tika(Greek erotiká, from éros - love, passion), sexual sensuality, increased, sometimes unhealthy interest in sexual problems.

Erratic boulders

Erratitic boulders, cm. Erratic boulders.

Herrera Fernando de

Erre"ra(Herrera) Fernando de (1534, Seville, - 1597, ibid.), Spanish poet. Representative of the Seville school in the poetry of the mature Renaissance (see. Spain, section Literature). Following F. Petrarch, he interpreted love in the spirit of Neoplatonism. Author of the pathetic ode “Song for Victory at Lepanto” and others. He spoke in “Remarks on Garcilaso” (1580) for saturation literary language complex stylistic figures and images, which anticipated poetry Gongorism.

Works: Poesías. Prologo de P. Bohigas, Barcelona, ​​1944.

Lit.: García Puertas M., Hurna-nidady humamsmo de Fernando de Herrera (el Divino), Montevideo, 1955; Macri O., Fernando de Herrera, Madrid, 1959.

Herrera Francisco de

Erre"ra(Herrera; nickname the Elder, El Viejo) Francisco de (1576, Seville, - 1656, Madrid), Spanish painter, representative Seville school. In 1650 he moved to Madrid. First teacher D. Velazquez. He studied Italian art, mainly Venetians. During his heyday, he created vividly realistic images of people in religious compositions; E.'s works are distinguished by the breadth of writing and the skill of conveying chiaroscuro (paintings from the life of St. Bonaventure for the Franciscan monastery in Seville, 1629, etc.). He also acted as an author of genre paintings, an engraver and a master of medal art.

F. de Herrera Sr. "St. Basil the Great, dictating the rules of monastic life." 1639. Louvre. Paris

Herrera Juan Bautista de

Erre"ra(Herrera) Juan Bautista de (circa 1530, Mobellan, province of Santander, - 15.1. 1597, Madrid), Spanish architect, representative of the Late Renaissance in Spanish architecture. He studied architecture in Brussels (1548-51). From 1559 he worked on the construction of the monastery-palace Escorial, which he headed from 1567. In his works (the stock exchange in Seville, 1582-98; etc.) he created a characteristic of Spanish architecture until the mid-17th century. the “Herreresco” (or “desoriamentado”) style, characterized by the ascetic severity of architectural forms, lack of decoration, and laconic artistic language.

Lit.: Lopez Serrano M., Trazas de Juan de Herrera..., Madrid, 1944.

"Ero"p"(“Europe”), French monthly socio-political and literary-art magazine. Editor-in-Chief P. Gamarra (since 1966). Founded in 1923 by a group of progressive writers led by R. Rolland and J. R. Blok. From abstract humanistic tendencies to the mid-30s. "E." switched to active support of the struggle for socialism. The magazine strives to establish broad international relations in the field of culture and covers the construction of a new life in socialist countries. Most special numbers "E." dedicated to the literature of a particular country (GDR, Bulgaria, Algeria, etc.), theater, one writer, artist, etc., production, literary direction or such phenomena as science fiction, television, cybernetics, etc. Writers from Russia and the USSR are given thematic issues: N.V. Gogol, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, Sholom Aleichem, M. Gorky, S. A. Yesenin, M. A. Sholokhov. For the 40th and 50th anniversary October revolution 1917 separate issues of “E.” were published. With selected works Soviet authors and critical articles. The magazine deals with the problems of materialist aesthetics, and has sections on literary heritage, criticism and bibliography.

Lit.:“Erop” magazine is fifty years old, “ Foreign literature", 1974, No. 1.

Eros (minor planet No. 433)

Eros(Eros), minor planet No. 433, discovered in 1898 by the amateur astronomer G. Witt in Berlin. E. is one of the small terrestrial planets that, in their movement around the Sun, can come close to the Earth. The period of revolution of Earth around the Sun is 1.76 years, semi-major axis is 1.46 A. e., eccentricity 0.22, inclination to the ecliptic plane 10°, 8. At aphelion, Earth goes beyond the orbit of Mars. E.'s perihelion distance is only 0.14 A. e. exceeds the semimajor axis of the Earth's orbit. The greatest approaches of Earth to the Earth (favorable oppositions) occur after 37 years and were observed in 1894, 1930-31, 1967-68. E.'s proximity to the Earth made it a convenient object for determining solar parallax. In 1950, the American astronomer E. Rabe, having processed E.'s observations for 1926-45, obtained a solar parallax value of 8"",79835 ± 0"",00058, close to the generally accepted value of 8"",80 at that time. Later, the calculations were repeated based on observations of 1926-65, and the new parallax value of 8"",79417 ± 0"",00018 (Rabe, Francis), completely coincided with the results of radar determinations. E. is a relatively bright minor planet: its brilliance is in opposition (see. Configurations in astronomy) ranges from 6.7 to 11.3 magnitude depending on the distance to the Earth and the orientation of the planet. E. is the first small planet for which periodic changes in brightness were discovered (1901). Maximum amplitude of brightness change 1.5 magnitude, period 5 h 16 min. A study of the light curve, which has two maxima and two minima per period, led astronomers to the conclusion that E. is a rotating elongated body. This was later confirmed by direct observations. Observations of the occultations of E. stars (E. is the first small planet for which this phenomenon was observed) made it possible to establish that the contour of the visible edge of E. has an irregular shape, resembling a dumbbell with diameters of 21 and 13 km.

Lit.: Minor planets. Sat., ed. N. S. Samoilova-Yakhontova, M., 1973.

Yu. V. Batrakov.

Yu. V. Batrakov.

Eros Eros (mythological) , in ancient Greek mythology, the god of love; cm.

Eros.

Eros (second name of minor planet No. 433) a rarely used name for a minor planet No. 433 ( a rarely used name for a minor planet No. 433 ().

Eros

Eros (second name of minor planet No. 433) Eros, in ancient Greek mythology, the god of love, the personification of love attraction, ensuring the continuation of life on earth. According to Hesiod's Theogony, E. was born from Chaos; according to other versions of the myth, E. came from Hermes and Artemis or from Ares and Aphrodite. E. was depicted as young, playful with golden wings, a bow, quiver and arrows, which inevitably amazed both people and the gods themselves, instilling in them a love passion. Allegorically, E. is love. From E. - eroticism, eroticism, erotic poetry. In ancient Roman mythology, E. corresponds to Amur And Cupid.

Ero"tika(Greek erotiká, from éros - love, passion), sexual sensuality, increased, sometimes unhealthy interest in sexual problems.

Erratic boulders

Erratitic boulders, cm. Erratic boulders.

Herrera Fernando de

Erre"ra(Herrera) Fernando de (1534, Seville, - 1597, ibid.), Spanish poet. Representative of the Seville school in the poetry of the mature Renaissance (see. Spain, section Literature). Following F. Petrarch, he interpreted love in the spirit of Neoplatonism. Author of the pathetic ode “Song for Victory at Lepanto” and others. He spoke in “Remarks on Garcilaso” (1580) for saturating the literary language with complex stylistic figures and images, which anticipated poetry Gongorism.

Works: Poesías. Prologo de P. Bohigas, Barcelona, ​​1944.

Lit.: García Puertas M., Hurna-nidady humamsmo de Fernando de Herrera (el Divino), Montevideo, 1955; Macri O., Fernando de Herrera, Madrid, 1959.

Herrera Francisco de

Erre"ra(Herrera; nickname the Elder, El Viejo) Francisco de (1576, Seville - 1656, Madrid), Spanish painter, representative Seville school. In 1650 he moved to Madrid. First teacher D. Velazquez. He studied Italian art, mainly Venetians. During his heyday, he created vividly realistic images of people in religious compositions; E.'s works are distinguished by the breadth of writing and the skill of conveying chiaroscuro (paintings from the life of St. Bonaventure for the Franciscan monastery in Seville, 1629, etc.). He also acted as an author of genre paintings, an engraver and a master of medal art.

F. de Herrera Sr. "St. Basil the Great, dictating the rules of monastic life." 1639. Louvre. Paris

Small planets, otherwise called asteroids, numbering many tens of thousands (of which more than 3540 have been catalogued), can be considered together with small bodies solar system(Chapter IX). However, their totality forms a ring lying near the main plane of the Solar system, occupying a place between Mars and Jupiter, which could well belong to an independent planet (their average distance from the Sun is 2.9 AU). The hypothesis that they are fragments of the once existing fifth (counting from the Sun), a relatively small planet, deserves attention. earth type. This hypothesis is based on some general properties orbital motion of asteroids. However, there are quite a few asteroids, mostly small in size and low in mass, the movement of which falls outside the general patterns: some of them at aphelion climb far beyond the orbit of Jupiter, while others at perihelion go inside the orbit of Mars, Earth and even Mercury. This is the so-called Apollo group. It includes the asteroids Eros, Apollo, Hermes, Amur, Icarus, Geographer and Phaethon, whose orbit is characterized by a record high eccentricity and the smallest distance at perihelion; however, its average distance from the Sun is , and at aphelion it extends well beyond the orbit of Mars. Its diameter is about 5 km.

In 1976, two asteroids were discovered at once - Aten and Hathor - with an orbital semi-major axis less than 1 AU. That is, however, their orbits also lie beyond the earth’s orbit due to their large eccentricity. On the eve of the discovery, the asteroid Hathor passed at a distance of only 1.15 million km from the Earth, breaking the approach record that happened with the asteroid Icarus (1566), which approached the Earth in 1968 at a distance of 7 million km. An extreme case of the opposite property is represented by asteroid 1977, discovered in 1977. Its rather highly eccentric orbit extends far beyond the orbit of Saturn. Its semimajor axis is a. That is, and at its apogee this asteroid comes close to the orbit of Uranus. It was discovered only due to its relatively large size: its diameter is about 200 km. It was named Chiron.

Only the largest asteroids (for example, Ceres, Pallas, Vesta) have measurable angular sizes of several tenths of an arcsecond, i.e., close to the resolution limit of large telescopes (KPA, § 2).

Of course, such measurements may be erroneous by 10-15% in one direction or another. The only way to verify these measurements is to determine the duration of the occultation of the stars by the planet's disk, since the speed of the angular movement of the planet among the stars is always precisely known. The coverage may be non-central, so this method gives the minimum dimensions of the planet's disk. For example, micrometer measurements give for the diameter of the planet Pallas (2) 490 km, and from the covering of the star by Pallas a value of 430 km was found. The planet Ceres (1) has a measured diameter of 740 km and coverage of 110 km. Obviously, during this occultation, the cento of Ceres passed quite far from the star.

Using the measured radii of the four brightest and largest asteroids, their geometric albedos were determined. They turned out to be very different - from 0.08 for Ceres (1) to 0.31 for Vesta (4).

However, determination of the sizes and albedo of asteroids using their far infrared radiation showed that the previously measured angular, and with them the linear sizes of asteroids are significantly underestimated, and their albedo, on the contrary, is overestimated.

Developed in last years before high degree Perfection of infrared technology has made it possible to measure the fluxes F of the own thermal radiation of many small planets, including very weak ones, in the region of 10 μm and 20 μm. This region is distinguished by the fact that for bodies with a temperature of 100-300 K the ratio of fluxes at the indicated wavelengths is very sensitive to temperature. Assuming the radiation to be gray, i.e., assuming that the emissivity a (see p. 486) does not depend on the wavelength, we can derive the relation

where is the Planck function, from which the temperature T is easily derived by logarithmization and with a minimum of assumptions. This will be the average color temperature T of the day side of the planet’s disk facing the Earth.

Already one of the two flux values, or , is sufficient to determine the radius of the planet p, since

this time - with an unknown a. However, it is possible to set a = 1.0 or 0.9 with great reliability. On the other hand, you can check the accepted value of T using formula (33.40), in which the dependence on is small, but you need to know the bolometric albedo, which can also be approximated by the visual albedo, or a value 10% greater or less (the latter - y very dark asteroids).

Thus, in recent years, the radii, temperatures and albedo of more than 700 small planets have been determined. Although series of similar determinations made at different observatories systematically diverge, the discrepancies do not exceed 20%. Possible errors in individual determinations of radii for individual asteroids are approximately the same. Table 26 shows the sizes and albedo of several minor planets from independent measurements at two different observatories, processed differently. Their albedo is also given.

Table 26. Physical characteristics of some minor planets

Of course, in the future these results will be refined, including with the help of space equipment. Now their significance is statistical, and the most important conclusion from them is this: there is a sharp division of the entire ensemble of more than 700 asteroids into two groups - dark and light; the former have a geometric albedo from 0.02 to 0.06 with a maximum occurrence from 0.03 to 0.04, the latter - from 0.09 to 0.40 with a maximum from 0.15 to 0.21.

In addition, there is a clear predominance of dark asteroids at great distances from the Sun. Thus, in particular, asteroids of the Trojan group, moving approximately in the orbit of Jupiter, have a very low albedo. Thus, the set of small planets around the Sun is not uniform and, perhaps, the emergence and development of both groups also followed different paths.

Different albedos, coupled with polarization and a few spectrophotometric measurements, indicate different mineralogical composition of the surface of asteroids in these groups. Dark asteroids are similar to carbonaceous meteorites (see Chapter IX), lighter ones are similar to stony meteorites (basaltic achondrites), silicate in composition, and the lightest ones, such as (4) Vesta, may have large metallic inclusions on the surface ( iron and nickel). Polarization observations of minor planets indicate significant negative polarization at small phase angles, which gives way to increasingly positive polarization after the phase angle (see Fig. 209). The slope of the polarization curve at this location correlates well with the albedo value and can serve as a means of independently determining the albedo (except for very dark asteroids). The presence of negative polarization indicates a loose surface consisting of individual stones, small fragments and loose coarse dust, similar to lunar regolith (see § 35).

Statistical modeling of the entire population of small planets suggests that they are not the product of the destruction of one planet, but rather debris from the collisions of several primordial planetoids that existed at the birth of the Solar System. Some of these primordial bodies may still exist today. Their chemical composition was different near and far from the Sun.

The total number of asteroids can be estimated by the gradual increase in their number as they move to increasingly weaker asteroids:

Asteroids visible at average opposition as objects have radii of 1/2 km or less. It is obvious that, despite their large number, they will not make a significant contribution to total weight asteroids, as for larger asteroids, then, attributing to them a density the same as that of the mentioned meteorites, carbonaceous and basaltic chondrites, i.e. , we find that their total mass reaches only 1/4000 of the mass of the Earth, while the smallest of major planets, Mercury, has a mass only 20 times less than that of Earth. The above calculations are supported by direct estimates of the masses of the most major planets- (1) Ceres, (2) Pallas and (4) Vesta: - obtained from mutual disturbances of their movements. Their densities are obtained accordingly (with errors of up to 35%). Based on the number of traces of small planets found in photographs with high-aperture instruments, one can get an idea of ​​the number of asteroids up to a certain maximum visible magnitude(in middle opposition):

From this it turns out that there are over 90 thousand asteroids.

It goes without saying that small planets cannot retain an atmosphere, and their temperatures are usually in the range of 200-250 K. Rapid axial rotation is very characteristic of small planets. It is detected by periodic changes in their brightness, which can be interpreted both as an effect of photometric heterogeneity of the surface and as a consequence of the irregularity of the asteroid’s figure, deviation from sphericity. Apparently the latter is true.

The amplitude of brightness changes for small planets can be very different and even very different for the same planet, which is caused by a change in the position of the rotation axis for an earthly observer during the orbital motion of the planet and the Earth. Very shining example shows the minor planet (433) Eros, the brightness of which changes within 5.27 hours by , and at times remains unchanged - when its axis of rotation is directed towards the Earth. Its figure is interpreted as a triaxial ellipsoid with an axial ratio of 36:15:17 km. Radar measurements of Eros give very similar results: the semi-axes of the equator are 18.6x7.9 km. And visually, some observers noted during Eros’s approach to the Earth that the asteroid had the shape of a dumbbell.

The amplitude of brightness fluctuations is even greater for the asteroid (1620) Geographer - from to - with a period of 5.22 hours. It can be thought of as a fir cone or cylinder with rounded edges and a length to thickness ratio of 4:1 with an effective diameter of only 3 km.

On the contrary, the third of the asteroids close to the Earth (1566), Icarus, has only small fluctuations in brightness - up to - with a period of 2.27 hours. Its diameter does not exceed 1 km.

All these three asteroids, very close to the Sun, have a high albedo, 0.2-0.3, and their surface composition is metallic iron + pyroxene and olivine. This is probably the same composition of the above-mentioned asteroid Aten, whose albedo according to polarization measurements is 0.2 and whose diameter is less than 1 km.

Very small asteroids rotate especially quickly, with larger ones most often having periods of 7-15 hours, and one of them, (654) Zelinda, even 32 hours. Rotation periods of less than two hours probably do not exist. At least carbonaceous chondrites are so fragile that in such short periods they should be destroyed under the influence of centrifugal forces.

It remains to add that the color of asteroids is somewhat yellower than the sun, like the color of the Moon and Mercury, although there are exceptions.

Asteroid 433 Eros, visible from spaceship NASA NEAR February 29, 2000. Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL.

On Tuesday, January 31, asteroid 433 Eros will pass closer to Earth than it did 37 years ago, traveling across the night sky in the constellations Leo, Sextans and Hydra. At its closest pass of 16.6 million miles (26.7 million km), the relatively bright asteroid 21 miles (34 km) wide would be visible even with modest home telescopes approaching magnitude 8, maybe even 7. It passed so close since 1975, and won't happen again until 2056.

433 Eros is an S type asteroid containing magnesium silicates and iron. S types make up about 17% of known asteroids and are among the brightest, with albedo (reflectivity) in the range of 0.10-0.22. S type asteroids are most common in the inner asteroid belt and, as in the case of Eros, may even pass through.

Sometimes Eros's orbit brings it close enough to Earth that it can be spotted using amateur telescopes. 2012 will be one of those times.

Eros was discovered on August 13, 1898 by astronomers Carl Gustav Witt in Berlin and Auguste Charlois in Nice. When the orbit of Eros was calculated, it was an elongated oval, which brought it inside the orbit of Mars. This allowed for good observations of the bright asteroid, and ultimately led to more accurate estimates of the distance from Earth to the Sun.

In February 2000 spacecraft NASA's NEAR Shoemaker approached Eros, settled into orbit and soft-landed on its surface, the first mission ever to do so. While NEAR was in orbit, it took more than 160,000 photographs of the surface of Eros, identifying more than 100,000 craters, a million house-sized boulders (with a slight twist one way or the other) and helping researchers conclude that the cashew-shaped Eros is a solid object , rather than a "pile of rubble" held together by gravity.

Studying ancient objects like Eros provides insight into the earliest days of our planet, and also allows scientists to better understand the compositions of asteroids... which is invaluable information when deciding how best to avoid any potential impacts in the future.

Although Eros will make a "close" approach to Earth on January 31/February 1, there is no danger of a collision. It will still remain at a very respectable distance of approximately 16.6 million miles (26.7 million km) or 0.178 AU (astronomical units). This is more than 80 times the distance of the much smaller one that passed safely within the radius on November 8, 2011.

If you want to try to see 433 Eros as it passes, you can find a chart marking its path from Sky and Telescope. According to the Sydney Observatory website, "the coordinates for 31 January (from the BAA 2012 Handbook) are 10 hours 33 minutes 19.0 seconds RA (right ascension) and -4 hours 48 minutes 23 seconds declination. 10 February RA is 10 hours 20 minutes 27.6 seconds and the declination is -14 hours 38 minutes 49 seconds."

There is also an updated map on Heavens Above, showing Eros' current position.

Minor planet 433 Eros is one of the largest and easily observed asteroids from the group of bodies approaching the Earth (this group is called Cupids). It was discovered on August 13, 1898 by Carl Gustav Witt (K.G.Witt, 1866-1946) at the Urania People's Observatory (Germany), as well as, independently of him, by the French astronomer August H.P.Charlois. Named Eros, this small planet turned out to be the 433rd asteroid discovered, but at the same time it is not an ordinary one: at the perihelion of its orbit, Eros almost touches the orbit of the Earth, while all asteroids discovered before it move much further from our planet. It was this feature of Eros that became the reason for special attention to it from astronomers: in the first decades of the 20th century. Observations of the movement of Eros made it possible to significantly clarify the distance of the Earth from the Sun (astronomical unit, AU), and at the end of the 20th century. Eros became the first and so far the only asteroid to have an interplanetary probe enter orbit around it.
Asteroids are of great interest because they pose the threat of a collision with our planet, which can lead to a severe catastrophe. The general name for a group of small planets with orbital semi-major axes less than 1.3 AU. - “near-Earth asteroids.” Now a little more than 1000 such objects have been discovered. But their number can be much larger: up to 1500-2000 bodies with dimensions of more than 1 km and up to 140,000 with dimensions of more than 100 m. The threat to the Earth from asteroids and other cosmic bodies is now widely discussed.
The Eros asteroid has an irregular, “shoe-shaped” shape; its dimensions are 40ґ 14ґ 14 km. Moreover, the volume of Eros is about half the total volume of all asteroids approaching the Earth. Eros rotates around its own axis with a period of 5 hours 16 minutes. Its orbit has a perihelion of 1.13 AU. and aphelion 1.78 au. In composition, Eros is an S-type asteroid, most typical of the inner region of the Main Asteroid Belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. The classification of asteroids is based on the spectral properties of what they reflect. sunlight. S-type asteroids have a fairly high albedo (light reflectance) and a reddish color. Optical spectra indicate that the surface of such asteroids consists of a mixture of olivines and pyroxenes (complexes of iron, magnesium and silicates) with an admixture of pure metals - nickel and iron.
By comparing the spectra of Eros and meteorites that fell to Earth, astronomers found that the composition of Eros is partly reminiscent of iron-stone meteorites, but even more so of chondrites, which have the most primitive composition, which has not changed during the life of the Solar System (4.6 billion years). This makes Eros very attractive for research.
The NEAR probe (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Meeting with an asteroid close to Earth) was launched by NASA (USA) on February 17, 1996 and flew on December 23, 1998 near the asteroid Eros, and on February 14, 2000 it again approached it and became its artificial satellite. For several months the device explored the planet from an altitude of about 200 km, and at the beginning of December 2000 it moved to an orbit with an altitude of only 35 km, from which it is possible to study chemical composition surfaces using X-ray and gamma spectrometers. After working in orbit of the asteroid for 1 year, Near Shoemaker landed beyond its surface. During its operation in orbit of the asteroid, the spacecraft transmitted more than 160 thousand images and performed more than 11 million laser pulses to accurately measure the shape of the surface.
The NEAR probe was assigned on March 14, 2000 given name in honor of the famous geologist and planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, who died in a car accident in 1997. The NEAR-Shoemaker probe completed its main task - photographing and studying the chemical composition of the surface of Eros. Compiled detailed map asteroid surface; the mountains, craters and valleys on it are named after romantic characters drawn from history and literature different nations, - from Don Quixote to Don Juan.

Vladimir Surdin

PS: Cupids- a group of asteroids approaching the Earth. Unlike Apollos and Atons, which were named after the first discovered asteroid, Amurs are named after one of their representatives, the fifth discovered asteroid 1221 Amur. To date, more than two thousand cupid asteroids are known, of which more than 600 have a number, and more than 60 have a name.

Amur group asteroids can be divided into four subgroups, depending on their average distance from the Sun:
Cupids I- a subgroup of cupids whose semi-major axis is located between the orbits of Earth and Mars (that is, between 1.0 and 1.523 AU). Less than one fifth of cupids belong to this subgroup. They have a lower eccentricity compared to other subgroups of cupids.
Some asteroids of this subgroup, such as 15817 Lucianotesi, do not cross the orbit of Mars. However, not all asteroids located entirely between the orbits of Earth and Mars are cupids. Others, such as Eros, penetrate beyond the orbit of Mars at aphelion. Cupids II- a subgroup of Cupids, whose semi-major axis is located between the orbits of Mars and the Main Asteroid Belt (between 1.523 and 2.12 AU). About a third of the group's asteroids, including Amur, belong to this subgroup. Cupids III- a subgroup of Cupids, the semi-major axis is located in the Main Asteroid Belt (between 2.12 and 3.57 AU). Since asteroids of this subgroup have a large eccentricity (approximately from 0.4 to 0.6), many of them, for example, 719 Albert and 1036 Ganymede, approach the orbit of Jupiter at a distance of almost 1 AU. e. Cupids IV— few asteroids of this subgroup are known, located beyond the Main Asteroid Belt (semi-major axis more than 3.57 AU). All Cupids IV have a significant eccentricity (from 0.65 to 0.75) and penetrate beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
Only one asteroid of this subgroup has its own name - 3552 Don Quixote. Another asteroid of this subgroup, 2007 VA 85, is interesting because it orbits the Sun in reverse side, compared to most bodies in the Solar System (2007 VA 85 is inclined to the ecliptic plane by 132°).