This image mosaic of Eros' southern hemisphere, taken by NEAR on Nov. 30, 2000, shows a long-distance look at the cratered terrain south of where the spacecraft will touch down Feb. 12.

In this view, south is to the top and the landing site itself is just into the shadows, slightly left of center. The length of the asteroid is 33 kilometers (21 miles).

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When NEAR, renamed NEAR Shoemaker last year after the late geologist Gene Shoemaker, descends to Eros on Monday, it will do so at the boundary of two distinctly different geologic provinces of the asteroid.

The main image shows the touchdown site (yellow circle) on the edge of the saddle-shaped feature Himeros. The inset is a mosaic of eight images showing the site in the context of the eastern part of the southern hemisphere. During the descent, NEAR Shoemaker will take a strip of more than 70 images crossing both provinces, some showing details of the surface smaller than 4 inches (10 centimeters) across.

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NEAR Shoemaker took these images of Eros on Oct. 16, 2000, while orbiting 34 miles (54 kilometers) above the asteroid. They are shown in false color, constructed from images taken in green light and two different wavelengths of infrared light.

Surface materials that have been darkened and reddened by the solar wind and micrometeorite impacts appear as pale brown, whereas fresher materials exposed from the subsurface on steep slopes appear in bright whites or blues. Compared with Gaspra and Ida, similar asteroids imaged in color from the Galileo spacecraft, Eros exhibits large brightness variations but only subtle color variations.

The top panorama shows the rounded rim of the saddle-shaped feature Himeros. The fresh, bright materials appear in localized patches set on a background of older fragmental debris, or regolith. In most regions of Eros, such as in the panorama and the view at lower left, the bright patches are strongly concentrated on the inner walls craters. However, on the inner wall of Himeros (lower right), steep slopes are extensive and the bright material appears as pervasive, scattered patches.

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One of the most recognizable surface features on Eros is the boulder-filled, concave depression at the southwestern edge of the saddle-shaped Himeros feature. When it was first glimpsed early in NEAR Shoemaker's orbital mission the area was informally tagged "Boulderado." It is shown here in a mosaic of pictures taken June 14, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 32 miles (52 kilometers).

This region has few superposed craters and, unlike the main part of Himeros, few geologic structures like curvilinear ridges or troughs. Instead, "Boulderado" is covered with the densest concentrations of boulders on the asteroid, suggesting that the craters that must once have populated the area have either been buried or eroded by regolith movement.

NEAR Shoemaker is ready to camera click its way down to the surface, drawing its one-year mission to a close. Digital images snapped during the attempted soft landing are expected to be five to 10 times better than anything received from the craft to date.