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Dwarf planet

Ceres

The dwarf planet of the main asteroid belt

Description

Ceres is the largest object in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered in Palermo by Giuseppe Piazzi on 1 January 1801. NASA's Dawn probe observed bright salt deposits there, possibly linked to underground brine.

Did you know?

On its own it holds about a quarter of the mass of the whole asteroid belt.