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 Ceres, photographed by the Dawn mission | |||||||||
| Discovery | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovered by | Giuseppe Piazzi | ||||||||
| Discovery date | January 1, 1801 | ||||||||
| Designations | |||||||||
| MPC designation | 1 Ceres | ||||||||
| A899 OF; 1943 XB | |||||||||
| dwarf planet main belt | |||||||||
| Orbital characteristics | |||||||||
| Epoch November 26, 2005 (JD 2453700.5) | |||||||||
| Aphelion | 447,838,164 km 2.987 AU | ||||||||
| Perihelion | 381,419,582 km 2.544 AU | ||||||||
| 414,703,838 km 2.765 956 424 AU | |||||||||
| Eccentricity | 0.07976017 | ||||||||
| 1679.819 days 4.599 years | |||||||||
Average orbital speed | 17.882 km/s | ||||||||
| 108.509° | |||||||||
| Inclination | 10.586712° | ||||||||
| 80.40696° | |||||||||
| 73.15073° | |||||||||
| Physical characteristics | |||||||||
Mean radius | 473 km | ||||||||
| Flattening | 0.067 ± 0.005 | ||||||||
| Mass | 9.46 ± 0.04×1020 kg | ||||||||
Mean density | 2.08 g/cm3 | ||||||||
Equatorial surface gravity | 0.27 m/s² 0.028 g | ||||||||
Equatorial escape velocity | 0.51 km/s | ||||||||
Sidereal rotation period | 0.3781 d 9.074 h | ||||||||
| 0.113 (geometric) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| G | |||||||||
| 6.7 to 9.32 | |||||||||
| 3.34 | |||||||||
| 0.84" to 0.33" | |||||||||
Ceres, also known as 1 Ceres (symbol: 
), is the smallest dwarf planet in the Solar System and the only one in the main asteroid belt.
It was discovered on 1 January 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi, and is named after the Roman goddess Ceres, as the goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love. After about 200 years from its discovery, the International Astronomical Union decided to upgrade Ceres from an asteroid (or minor planet) to dwarf planetary status in 2006.
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