Ceres
Queen of the asteroid belt
The largest object in the asteroid belt and the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. Ceres hosts bright salt deposits and may harbor a subsurface ocean.
Image: NASA / Dawn
Vital statistics
Classification
Dwarf Planet
Diameter
940 km
Day length
9 hours
Year length
4.6 Earth years
Discovered
Jan 1, 1801
Did you know
The brightest spots in Occator Crater are sodium carbonate salts.
Fact 01
Contains 25% of the total mass of the asteroid belt.
Fact 02
Likely has a layer of briny water beneath its surface.
Fact 03
Deep dive
Discovery
Found by Giuseppe Piazzi — originally classified as a planet for 50 years before being demoted to asteroid, then promoted to dwarf planet.
Name origin
Named after the Roman goddess of agriculture.
Notable missions
- • Dawn (2015–2018 orbital survey)
Research & publications
Jump straight into peer-reviewed papers, preprints and authoritative references for Ceres.
arXiv (preprints)
Open-access preprints in physics & astrophysics.
NASA ADS
The definitive bibliographic database for astronomy.
Google Scholar
Cross-publisher academic search.
Nature
Peer-reviewed articles in Nature & sister journals.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedic overview & onward references.
Tip: ask the Research AI for a curated reading list → /research
