Dwarf planet · Solar System

Ceres

Above the horizon after darkHighest after dark 05:17 · southeast · 54°

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Where is Ceres?

Times for LondonChange city

Look southeast, about 54° up at 05:17 in Gemini. It rises at 23:02 and climbs through the night.

Rises: 23:02
Highest: 07:16
Sets: 15:34
Best after dark: 05:17 · 54°

Can I see Ceres tonight?

From London tonight, Ceres is above the horizon after dark. It’s highest just before dawn, around 05:17, in the southeast at 54°.

At magnitude 8.6 it is too faint for the eye; binoculars will show it.

This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.

What does Ceres look like?

Eyes

Not visible. Even at its best it is a little too faint for the naked eye.

Binoculars

Near opposition, a faint star-like point. Sketch or photograph the field on two nights and you will see one “star” has moved: that is Ceres.

Telescope

Still a star-like point in amateur telescopes. The fun is in tracking its motion, not in seeing a disk.

What you’re likely to see, not what a space telescope photographs.

About Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, about 940 km across. It was discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801 and was called a planet for decades, then an asteroid. Since 2006 it has been classed as a dwarf planet.

It is big enough for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly round shape. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbited Ceres from 2015 to 2018 and found bright patches of salt deposits in Occator Crater, signs that briny water once reached the surface.

Ceres is the only dwarf planet that ordinary binoculars can show. Around its opposition, which comes roughly every 15 months, it can reach about magnitude 7, bright enough to follow from night to night as it slides against the stars.

Ceres holds a large amount of water ice, and some scientists think pockets of brine may still exist below its surface. It is named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, and the element cerium, discovered soon after, was named after it.

Ceres alone makes up roughly a quarter to a third of the total mass of the asteroid belt.

Other dwarf planets

Brightness computed today from IAU Minor Planet Center orbits.

Questions

Is Ceres a planet or an asteroid?

It is classed as a dwarf planet. It is also the largest object in the asteroid belt.

When is Ceres easiest to see?

Around opposition, roughly every 15 months, when it is closest to Earth and visible all night.

What did the Dawn mission find?

A cratered world with bright salt deposits and evidence of a briny layer below the surface.

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Sources: SkyMate; IAU Minor Planet Center; star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences