Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Classified as a dwarf planet, Ceres has a diameter of about 940 kilometers and was discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi. This celestial body is notable for its round shape, which is due to its gravity pulling it into a spherical form, a characteristic typically seen in planets rather than asteroids. Ceres is composed of rock and ice and has a surface that features a mixture of water-ice and various hydrated minerals like clays. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which orbited Ceres from 2015 to 2018, provided detailed insights into its surface, including the presence of a large number of craters, some mysterious bright spots which are believed to be deposits of salts, and evidence suggesting a past presence of liquid water. These findings have fueled interest in Ceres as a potential harbor for microbial life and a window into the history of our solar system.
Modeling reveals how Ceres powers unexpected geologic activity. According to Scott King, a geoscientist at the Virginia Tech College of Science, our view of Ceres has…
Anomalies in the distribution of hydrogen at Occator crater on the dwarf planet Ceres reveal an icy crust, says a new paper led by Tom…
Earth’s energy budget. Not a familiar concept? Maybe you’re scratching your head, wondering, what is that? Don’t worry. You’re not the only one. The good…
Data from NASA’s recent Dawn mission answers two long-unresolved questions: Is there liquid inside Ceres, and how long ago was the dwarf planet geologically active?…
Ceres, the dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter, is a exotic and mysterious world with a complex history and contemporary geologic activity. Scientists are attempting…
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system’s earliest chapter. Dawn missed scheduled communications sessions…
Bright surface features on the dwarf planet Ceres known as faculae were first discovered by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft in 2015. This mosaic of one such…
Pasadena Conference to Include New Insight into Dwarf Planet Ceres As NASA’s Dawn spacecraft prepares to wrap up its groundbreaking 11-year mission, which has included…
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reached its lowest-ever and final orbit around dwarf planet Ceres on June 6 and has been returning thousands of stunning images and…
A new analysis of data from NASA’s Dawn mission suggests that organic matter may exist in surprisingly high concentrations on the dwarf planet’s surface. Last…
Observations of Ceres have detected recent variations in its surface, revealing that the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system is a dynamic body…
What is a tholus? A tholus is a type of small mountain. These images show such a feature on dwarf planet Ceres called Kwanzaa Tholus….
If you could fly aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the surface of dwarf planet Ceres would generally look quite dark, but with notable exceptions. These exceptions…
Two new studies from NASA’s Dawn mission shed light on Ceres, revealing that the dwarf planet may have had a global ocean in the past….
Ten years ago, NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft set sail for the two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter: giant asteroid Vesta…
This newly released image from NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft shows the northeastern rim of Urvara Crater on Ceres, helping to shed light on the nature of…
NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft captured this image of the Kerwan crater (the largest crater on Ceres) from an altitude of about 915 miles. The 16-mile-wide (26-kilometer-wide)…
On April 29th NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft successfully observed Ceres at opposition, taking images from a position exactly between the sun and Ceres’ surface. Mission specialists…