-CERES-

                                                                            Goddess of agriculture

Last updated: 24/05/2019

Ceres is a dwarf planet located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is the closest dwarf planet to the Sun and Earth and is the largest object in the asteroid belt. It is also the smallest out of all the 5 dwarf planets in the Solar System. It is the only dwarf planet that is closer to the Sun than Neptune. 

Ceres was discovered on the January 1st, 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi. He was searching for a star but found Ceres. At first, he thought it was a comet but later realized it wasn't. It was considered a planet for 50 years. It was also the first asteroid discovered. 

Ceres is the Greek goddess of agriculture, or corn and harvest.

Ceres is the only dwarf planet in the Solar System, to not have a Moon. Ceres also has no ring system. But Ceres does have mysterious bright spots. When the Dawn space probe flew towards Ceres in late 2014 and early 2015, astronomers found two bright spots at about 19 degrees north latitude inside a crater. 

It takes Ceres 4.6 Earth years to make one full trip around the Sun and takes 9 hours to rotate once on its axis. 

Type- Dwarf Planet

Made of- Rocky core and Icy mantle

Temperature- (day)-73 C (night)-143 C

Diameter- 946 km

Mass- 8.958 x 10^20 kg

Distance from Sun- 2.77 AU (Astronomical Units)

Distance from Earth- 476.366 km