SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Dwarf planet Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it’s the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801.

Detailed explanation-2: -Ceres has the shape of a flattened sphere with an equatorial radius of 490 km and a polar radius of 455 km, equivalent in volume to a sphere with a diameter of 940 km-i.e., about 27 percent that of Earth’s Moon. Although Ceres is the largest asteroid, it is not the brightest.

Detailed explanation-3: -There has been some ambiguity regarding surface features on Ceres. Low resolution ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope images taken in 1995 showed a dark spot on its surface which was nicknamed “Piazzi” in honour of the discoverer of Ceres.

Detailed explanation-4: -Among the wide expanses of the solar system lives Ceres, which has the distinction of being both the smallest known dwarf planet and the largest object in the asteroid belt.