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First asteroid found to travel mainly inside the orbit of Mars and the first to be landed on by a spacecraft.
Discovered in 1898 and named for the Greek god of love, Eros is an elongated body about 20.5 mi (33 km) in its greatest dimension. It can approach to within 14 million mi (22 million km) of Earth. In 2000 the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR Shoemaker) spacecraft orbited Eros, collecting a full year of data, and in 2001 it set down gently on Eros's surface.
II
Greek god of love.
Though Hesiod declared him one of the primeval gods born of Chaos , he was later said to be the son of Aphrodite . His Roman counterpart was Cupid . Eros was depicted as a beautiful winged youth carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. In later literature and art he became increasingly younger, ending as an infant. His cult centre was at Thespiae, but he also shared a sanctuary with Aphrodite at Athens.