EROS
The walk

XIX

433

EROS

asteroid designation

Eros Has aPsyche

On asteroid 433 Eros, the names are already telling a story.

A near-Earth body, about thirty-four kilometers along its long axis, received the name of desire in 1898. A century later a spacecraft stood on it. The names that followed belong to the sky’s own gazetteer.

Closest-approach mosaic of asteroid 433 Eros, a long strip of cratered rock and pooled regolith in raking sunlight.
DOCUMENTARY IMAGEClosest approach, 26 October 2000. The camera was 6.4 kilometers from the surface. Rocks as small as 1.4 meters. NASA / JPL / JHUAPL. Public domain.
NEAR Shoemaker mosaic of the crater NASA called Psyche on 433 Eros: a raised rim in low light, smaller craters along the rim, a boulder on the wall.
DOCUMENTARY IMAGEThe feature NASA called Psyche. A raised rim in low light. A boulder on the wall. PIA03121.

Crater

Psyche

beloved of Eros

Beloved of Eros; personification of human soul in Greek mythology.

Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. IAU, 2003.

31.60°N94.60°W4.80 km

NASA’s caption of 17 February 2001 already used the name. The IAU made it official two years later. The crater is a place. The tale of the lamp lives in another house.

Psyche

beloved of Eros

Beloved of Eros; personification of human soul in Greek mythology.

31.60°N · 94.60°W · 4.80 km

Himeros

attendant of Eros

Attendant of Eros; personification of the longing of love in Greek mythology.

21.20°N · 282.30°W · 10.00 km

Narcissus

the figure who fell in love with his own reflection

Young man from Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection in water.

18.20°N · 7.10°W · 2.90 km

Mosaic of Eros looking down on the north polar region, with a saddle at the bottom, a large crater at the top, and a ridge running between them.
DOCUMENTARY IMAGELooking down on the north polar region. A saddle, a crater, a ridge between them. PIA02923. The catalog, not this photograph, carries the names.

Craters on Eros are named after legendary and famous lovers.

Dorsa on Eros are named after scientists who studied the asteroid.

The names were proposed from NEAR mosaics in 2001. The IAU adopted them in 2003.

Cylindrical mosaic of 433 Eros labeled with proposed place names, including Himeros, Psyche and Hinks Dorsum.
DOCUMENTARY IMAGENEAR mosaic with proposed names, 17 February 2001. The IAU adopted the nomenclature in 2003. Himeros is the largest labeled feature. Psyche and Hinks Dorsum appear on the same body. PIA03117.

Hinks Dorsum

42.00°

catalogued center latitude

The ridge is named for Arthur Robert Hinks, 1873–1945. He first used Eros to measure the solar parallax. The Gazetteer records the center of Hinks Dorsum at 42.00°. Planetographic. +West. 0–360.

The decimal is the catalog’s. It is a latitude, not a rhyme.

An ancient ridge on Eros trending across a densely cratered surface in raking sunlight.
DOCUMENTARY IMAGEAn ancient ridge on Eros, among the older features of the body. PIA03110. A ridge of this kind. Not marked as a named dorsum.

Source

Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature, U.S. Geological Survey. Approved 2003.

Support

NEAR Shoemaker plates. NASA / JPL / JHUAPL. Public domain.

Limit

433 is a designation. 42.00° is a latitude. 42 is an English cipher result. They are not the same kind of evidence. The photographs are not the gazetteer.

EROS

a crater named for the soul

PSYCHE

The story of the lamp belongs to another house.

Notes · 4
  1. NEAR Shoemaker documentary plates of 433 Eros. NASA / JPL / JHUAPL. Public domain. PIA03119, Eros Closest Approach Mosaic, 26 October 2000. PIA03121, A Look at Psyche, 10 September 2000. PIA02923, Mosaic of Eros Northern Hemisphere, 29 February 2000. PIA03117, Eros Map and Place Names, 17 February 2001. PIA03110, An Ancient Ridge, 21 September 2000. Source
  2. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature, U.S. Geological Survey. Target: Eros. Features approved 2003. Coordinate system: planetographic, +West, 0–360. Feature 4857, Psyche, crater, center 31.60°N 94.60°W, diameter 4.80 km. Feature 2508, Himeros, crater, center 21.20°N 282.30°W, diameter 10.00 km. Feature 4152, Narcissus, crater, center 18.20°N 7.10°W, diameter 2.90 km. Source
  3. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, IAU WGPSN / USGS. Feature 2513, Hinks Dorsum, Eros. Center latitude 42.00°, longitude 318.00°, diameter 0.00 km. Origin: Arthur Robert; English astronomer, first used Eros for solar parallax (1873-1945). Approved 2003. Source
  4. English Full Reduction of HIMEROS: H 8, I 9, M 4, E 5, R 9, O 6, S 1. Sum 42. Calculated from the ordinary English spelling of the IAU crater name, after the name had already been approved. Distinct from the Milesian isopsephy of ἵμερος (425).

Eve

Eros Has a Psyche

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