The digital camera has also captured brighter spots on the surface that Near scientists are keen to study.

BBC: Eros is 'no ordinary rock'

Despite their scarcity, they can easily be spied at these spots, breaking the surface in gentle arcs in pods of three or four.

ECONOMIST: The Mekong river

In this, the stream of video and audio data is recorded as a series of minuscule spots on the disc's surface that have been gently fried by a laser beam and turned from their normal crystalline condition to an amorphous state that has different reflective properties.

ECONOMIST: Digital video discs