![]() Although Ceres likely lacks an internal ocean of liquid water, brines still flow through the outer mantle and reach the surface, allowing cryovolcanoes such as Ahuna Mons to form roughly every fifty million years. ![]() Gravity data suggest Ceres to be partially differentiated into a muddy (ice-rock) mantle/core and a less dense but stronger crust that is at most 30% ice by volume. As a result, its surface features are barely visible even with the most powerful telescopes, and little was known about it until the robotic NASA spacecraft Dawn approached Ceres for its orbital mission in 2015.ĭawn found Ceres's surface to be a mixture of water ice, and hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clay. Its apparent magnitude ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, peaking at opposition (when it is closest to Earth) once every 15- to 16-month synodic period. Ceres was later classified as an asteroid and then a dwarf planet – the only one orbiting entirely within Neptune's orbit.Ĭeres's small size means that even at its brightest, it is too dim to be seen by the naked eye, except under extremely dark skies. ![]() It was the first asteroid discovered, on 1 January 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily and announced as a new planet. Ceres ( / ˈ s ɪər iː z/ minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
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