Astronomy Picture of the Day · February 12, 2001

Approaching Asteroid Eros

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 12, 2001 is “Approaching Asteroid Eros,” an image. It is credited to Credit: NEAR Project , JHU APL , NASA. The original explanation runs about 106 words.

From the explanation

“Today, at about 3 pm EST, the first human-made spacecraft is scheduled to touchdown on an asteroid . At an impact speed of 8 kilometers per hour, it is most probable that the robot spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker will not survive its planned collision with 433 Eros .”

— APOD editors, February 12, 2001

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: February 12, 2001
Type: Image
Credit: Credit: NEAR Project , JHU APL , NASA
Copyright: No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 106 words

All of February 2001 → · 2001 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

Asteroids

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: February 12 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, February 12, 2001 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2001-february-12-approaching-asteroid-eros

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.