Ceres

When Ceres was first discovered it was called a comet. Within a year it was called a planet. Within one more year it was called an asteroid. Since 2006, it has been called a dwarf planet.

Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801 by Italian Giuseppe Piazzi. He discovered it while searching for a star.

Italian Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres on January 1, 1801 while he was searching for a star. He first believed that he had discovered a comet, but he was not confident in his belief.

It takes approximately 4.6 Earth years for Ceres to make one revolution around the Sun.

Ceres is located 415 million kilometers from the Sun and revolves around the Sun in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

Because Ceres is spherical, it is unlike the majority of the members of the asteroid belt.

It is now believed that Ceres formed 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was forming.

Ceres contains one-third of the mass found in the asteroid belt.

Scientists believe that Ceres has a rocky core and an icy mantle.

NASA has launched a probe called Dawn, whose mission is to travel to the asteroid belt. It will first travel to observe the asteroid Vesta. After collecting data from Vesta, Dawn will intercept with Ceres where it will observe its surface features and collect data about its chemical composition.