Dwarf planet CERES

Ceres

Dwarf planet

The largest body in the asteroid belt and the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, Ceres is a world shaped by rock and ice.

View in the 3D observatory

Illustrative surface and shape · Image credits

Equivalent diameter: 939.4 km
Orbital semimajor axis: 2.766 AU
Model orbital period: 4.599 yr

01 / Overview

Meet Ceres

Ceres connects rocky asteroids with ice-rich worlds. Dawn’s close observations revealed its craters and salt deposits, offering clues to its interior evolution.

Shape and composition

Bright areas in Occator crater contain salts, recording connections between subsurface brines and the surface.

Discovery and exploration

Dawn entered orbit around Ceres in 2015 after previously orbiting Vesta.

02 / Key data

Core parameters

Equivalent diameter: 939.4 km
Orbital semimajor axis: 2.766 AU
Model orbital period: 4.599 yr
Rotation period: 9.074 hours
Orbital inclination: 10.588 °
Orbital eccentricity: 0.07969

Data and calculation notes

Asteroid positions use epoch-based JPL orbital snapshots and a two-body approximation. Planetary perturbations and thermal radiation effects are omitted; this is not for close-approach or impact prediction. Except for Ceres's observed near-spherical fallback, scene shapes come from mission or PDS models. True sizes use equivalent radii; asteroids do not participate in eclipse calculations.

03 / Further reading

A closer look

Scale and orbit4

Ceres has an equivalent diameter of about 939.4 km: the diameter of a sphere with the same volume.
A year on Ceres lasts about 4.60 Earth years.
Using this site's orbital elements, Ceres is about 2.545 AU from the Sun at perihelion.
Using this site's orbital elements, Ceres is about 2.986 AU from the Sun at aphelion.

Sources

Understanding the orbital model2

An orbital snapshot describes motion near its epoch; planetary gravity changes real orbits over time.
Near-Earth asteroid is an orbital classification; it does not mean an impact on Earth is imminent.

Sources

04 / Sources

Trusted sources

NASA Science — Ceres JPL — Orbital data

Image credits

Published global maps or surface-albedo data are applied only to the matching body. Pallas uses Carry et al.'s published K-band relative-albedo map, which covers about 80% of the surface; unobserved pixels are filled with the mean only to keep the matching model continuous. Psyche uses the per-facet relative-albedo map bundled with DAMIT model 1806. Juno has no downloadable global albedo map, so it keeps its own shape, JPL geometric albedo, and spectral material without borrowing another body's texture.

Surface texture：NASA Dawn / USGS; CelestiaContent · License · Rendered by ORBIT