Dwarf planet
Ceres
The asteroid belt's only dwarf planet, spinning every nine hours.
Ceres orbits the Sun every 4.6 years in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It spins quickly, once about every 9 hours. Its axis is tilted only about 4 degrees, so it has almost no seasons.
How it moves
- Ceres orbits the Sun every 1,680 days (about 4.6 years) at about 2.77 AU.
- Its orbit is moderately eccentric (0.080) and inclined 10.6 degrees to the ecliptic.
- It rotates once every 9.074 hours, one of the shortest days in the solar system.
- Its axis tilts only about 4 degrees, so it spins nearly upright with no real seasons.
Facts
- Mean radius
- 469.7 km
- Mass
- 9.384e+20 kg
- Surface gravity
- 0.27 m/s²
- Rotation period
- 9.07417 hours
- Orbital period
- 1,679.85 days
- Average distance from the Sun
- 2.76555 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.0797
- Axial tilt
- 4°
- Discovered
- January 1, 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo
Ceres holds about 25% of the asteroid belt's total mass.
Sources: ssd.jpl.nasa.gov, ssd-api.jpl.nasa.gov, science.nasa.gov