Ceres
Ceres is the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System. Dawn mapped its entire surface, finding an ice-rich crust, a cryovolcano, and bright carbonate salt deposits.
Ceres Science file
Bright salt deposits, · deep in the asteroid belt
Basic properties
- Distance from the Sun
- 2.77 AU
- Equatorial diameter
- 940 km
- Orbital period
- 4.61 Earth years
- Rotation period
- 9 hr 4 min
- Surface gravity
- About 2.8% of Earth's
- Typical temperature
- About −143 to −38°C
- Atmosphere
- Extremely thin water-vapor exosphere
- Moon system
- No natural moons
Highlights
The bright spots in Occator Crater
The brilliant patches consist mainly of sodium carbonate and other salts, showing that subsurface brine once rose through fractures.
An ice-rich dwarf planet
Observations indicate abundant water ice underground, with exposed ice also found in some permanently shadowed regions.
The solitary Ahuna Mons
This roughly four-kilometer mountain was likely built by eruptions of salty mud or icy material.