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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Asteroid 253 Mathilde in color

Asteroid 253 Mathilde in color
Asteroid 253 Mathilde in color NEAR captured this photo of asteroid 253 Mathilde on June 27, 1997; Mathilde was the target of a flyby encounter nearly three years before the mission went on to orbit asteroid 433 Eros. NASA / JHUAPL / Cornell / colorized image by Daniel Macháček

This image has been artificially colorized to match its likely appearance to a human observer. As a C-type asteroid, Mathilde is very dark, darker than asphalt. It is 59 by 47 kilometers in diameter.