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A recent satellite photo of the uneven contours of the space rock resembles footprint.
By Alex Canizares
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 07:00 am ET
10 August 2000
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bigfoot_eros_000809 WASHINGTON -- Has Big Foot been prowling around Asteroid Eros? A recent spacecraft photo of the uneven contours of the space rock plays with the imagination, showing a cluster of boulders and craters that resemble a giant footprint.The August 4 snapshot of the space rock by the orbiting NEAR Shoemaker -- like the other 500 to 900 photos taken daily by the car-sized probe -- shows features like boulders and small, smooth patches, as well as clusters of rocks. 
But at the bottom-center of this photo, which depicts a 1.8 kilometer (1.1 mile) scene, two craters give the impression of a giant footprint. "One can use one's imagination," said NEAR project scientist Andy Chang. "The surface of Eros does have an unusual appearance to us." In fact, the footprint is two craters superimposed on each other, Chang said. Craters, largely created by asteroid impacts, give signs into the age and the history of Eros, and what lies beneath the rock's surface. Eros is rife with unusual phenomena, Chang said. One unexplained activity is dirt moving around the surface, a swirling that scientists believe is caused by steady impacts of smaller asteroids hitting the asteroid. This particular photo (above), however, is unusual. "This is really strange looking, I have to say," said Chang, looking at the photo on the projects website. "I want to know where this came from. I am going to look at the data set right now."
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