Ceres

The dwarf planet Ceres was discovered January 1st 1801 as the first of the many objects that orbit the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter in an area called the main asteroid belt. The fact that it is the largest body in this area helped to its discovery. Ceres has a diameter of about 950 km and such a weight that her own gravitational action formed it into an approximately spherical shape. It is also one of the reasons why it is known as a dwarf planet, and not as an asteroid.



The center of Ceres consists of a solid rocky core and probably a partially liquid mantle above, composed of water, water ice and stone dust. The surface of Ceres is covered by a relatively thin crust of stone with a thickness between tens of centimeters and couple of meters. The crust is dotted with multiple impact craters. In several places the surface can have some striking bright patches, origin of which may be associated with a temporary outflow of liquid water from the interior to the surface of Ceres.