Forwarded from Linda Wong (tps@planetary.org)

The NEAR team has invited Planetary Society members and others to suggest crater names for Eros, which will later be submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for official consideration. Named for the Greek god of love, Eros will be a fitting Valentine's Day target for NEAR to begin courting in a year-long mission in which the spacecraft will image and study the 33-kilometer-long asteroid. In keeping with the asteroid's namesake, the theme for crater names will be love. The craters of Eros can be named after famous lovers, legendary romantic locales, aspects of love, and so on. Name submissions - accompanied by a short explanation (50 words maximum) - may be brought to the public event or mailed to The Planetary Society. Send submissions to Names on Eros, The Planetary Society, 65 N. Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106. For more information, visit the Society's website at http://planetary.org and click on "Help Name the Craters of Eros" in the Contest section.

The Student Press Conference will take place Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 10:00 AM, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland. To register, schools must contact Linda Butler at (443)778-5746 from Baltimore or (240)228-5746 from Washington. Unless alternate arrangements are made, each school is limited to sending two student journalists accompanied by one adult mentor.

The public event, "NEAR's Tryst with Eros," will be held Thursday, February 10 at 7:00 PM at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Admission is free and on a first come, first served basis.

For more information on NEAR, visit http://near.jhuapl.edu/index.html.

Contact Susan Lendroth at (626)793-5100 ext. 214 or by e-mail at tps.sl@planetary.org for more information about the Student Press Conference, public event or the Society's Name the Craters contest.

Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The Planetary Society in 1980 to advance the exploration of the solar system and to continue the search for extraterrestrial life. Its 100,000 members make it the largest space interest group in the world.

Linda Wong
The Planetary Society
65 N. Catalina Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91106-2301
Tel: (626) 793-5100 ext. 236
Fax: (626) 793-5528
E-Mail: tps@planetary.org