Physical properties of asteroid 433 Eros

Newly available photometric, polarimetric, spectroscopic, thermal-radiometric, radar, and occultation results are synthesized in order to derive a coherent model for Eros. The geometric albedo is 0.19 plus or minus 0.01 at the visual wavelength, and the overall dimensions are approximately 13 by 15 by 36 km. The rotation is about the short axis, in the direct sense, with a sidereal period of 5 hr 16 min 13.4 sec. The pole of rotation lies within a few degrees of ecliptic coordinates 16 deg longitude and beta = +11 deg latitude. Eros is uniformly coated with a particulate surface layer several millimeters thick. It has an iron-bearing silicate composition, similar to that of a minority of main-belt asteroids, and probably identifiable with H-type ordinary chondrites.