433 Eros Best-fit Ellipsoid


* Zuber, M.T., D.E. Smith, A.F. Cheng, J.B. Garvin, O. Aharonson, T.D. Cole, P.J. Dunn, Y. Guo, F.G. Lemoine, G.A. Neumann, D.D. Rowlands, and M.H. Torrence, The Shape of 433 Eros from the NEAR-Shoemaker Laser Rangefinder, Science, 289, 1788-1793, 2000.


NLR190 is a spherical harmonic model to degree and order 24 based on approximately 5 million Eros radii collected by the NLR through day 190, year 2000. Because of its deviation from sphericity, on Eros one degree varies from about 54 to 307 m.

The table below shows the "best-fit" triaxial ellipsoid to model NLR190. This ellipsoid fits the observed shape of Eros as described to NLR190 to 1028 in an RMS sense. This is not a very good fit due to the fact that Eros deviates significantly from a simple ellipsoidal shape. Deviations are due to collisions, craters, etc.


433 Eros Tri-axial Ellipoid Parameters

Parameter
Value
Uncertainty (+/-)
Tri-axial Ellipsoid
a(m)
20591
40
b(m)
5711
40
c (m)
5332
50
Ellipsoid Offset of center of figure from center of mass
Dx
470
20
Dy
720
20
Dz
-202
30
Direction of ellipsoidal axes**
a (lat/lon E), deg
0/349
5
b (lat/lon E), deg
82/259
5
c (lat/lon E), deg
8/259
5

**Estimates of the directions of the axes are inaccurate due to the inherent deviation in asteroid shape from a triaxial ellipsoid. Results suggest that the major axis is approximately 11° away from the X-axis of the coordinate system and the "polar" axis (b) is about 8° from the Z-axis.


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Direct inquiries to: zuber@mit.edu