Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi on 1 January 1801 and was later reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, along with Pluto and Eris. Ceres has a diameter of approximately 940 kilometers and a mass of 9.39 x 10^20 kilograms, making it about 1/14th the mass of the Moon. Ceres has a relatively round shape, and its surface is covered in craters, mountains, and bright spots, including the famous Occator Crater, which contains bright deposits of salt. It has no atmosphere, but it does have a thin water vapor exosphere. Ceres has a rotational period of about 9.1 hours and an orbital period of 4.6 Earth years. In 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet and providing detailed images and data about its geology, composition, and history.
Find it in the Sky
Chose a date & time and view the position of asteroid 1 Ceres in the sky on our interactive planetarium.
In Evidence
Asteroid 1 Ceres
Asteroid 1 Ceres is in the constellation of Cetus, at a distance of
Finder Charts
The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of asteroid 1 Ceres in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.
The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of asteroid 1 Ceres against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.
Equatorial Coordinates
Apparent
J2000
Additional Information
Rise and Set Times
The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of asteroid 1 Ceres from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.
Distance from Earth
The distance of asteroid 1 Ceres from Earth is currently
The following graph shows the distance of asteroid 1 Ceres from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).
The value of the distance of 1 Ceres from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.
Closest Approach to Earth
In the period between January 1, 1600 and December 30, 2499, the closest approach of asteroid 1 Ceres to Earth happened on Monday 11 February 1636 at a distance of 1.573972 Astronomical Units, or 235,462,867 kilometers:
Note: the values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Light Curve
The following chart shows the light curve of asteroid 1 Ceres, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.
Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of asteroid 1 Ceres at epoch February, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.07881745 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 10.58634327° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 2.54907953 AU 381,336,871 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
2.98528395 AU 446,592,124 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
2.76718174 AU 413,964,497 km |
| Orbital period | period |
4.6033 years 1,681.3377 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | December 6, 2022 2,459,920.0963 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | July 14, 2027 2,461,601.4340 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 73.470461544247° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 80.260148690589° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 17.215651496148° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.21411522°/day |
Orbit Visualization
The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of asteroid 1 Ceres relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.
Physical Properties
The table below lists the known key physical properties of asteroid 1 Ceres. The source for this data is the JPL Small-Body Database.
| Physical Parameter | Value | Relative to Earth |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | 952.4 km | 0.0747 |
| Sideral Rotation | 9.0742 hours | 0.3791 |
| Absolute Magnitude | 3.34 | |
| Geometric Albedo | 0.09 |
15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of asteroid 1 Ceres computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 05 2025 | 01h 05m 14s | -05° 17’ 18” | 8.96 | Cetus |
| Jul 06 2025 | 01h 05m 59s | -05° 15’ 59” | 8.95 | Cetus |
| Jul 07 2025 | 01h 06m 44s | -05° 14’ 47” | 8.94 | Cetus |
| Jul 08 2025 | 01h 07m 28s | -05° 13’ 42” | 8.93 | Cetus |
| Jul 09 2025 | 01h 08m 11s | -05° 12’ 45” | 8.92 | Cetus |
| Jul 10 2025 | 01h 08m 54s | -05° 11’ 54” | 8.91 | Cetus |
| Jul 11 2025 | 01h 09m 35s | -05° 11’ 11” | 8.89 | Cetus |
| Jul 12 2025 | 01h 10m 15s | -05° 10’ 34” | 8.88 | Cetus |
| Jul 13 2025 | 01h 10m 55s | -05° 10’ 04” | 8.87 | Cetus |
| Jul 14 2025 | 01h 11m 34s | -05° 09’ 43” | 8.86 | Cetus |
| Jul 15 2025 | 01h 12m 12s | -05° 09’ 28” | 8.85 | Cetus |
| Jul 16 2025 | 01h 12m 48s | -05° 09’ 21” | 8.83 | Cetus |
| Jul 17 2025 | 01h 13m 24s | -05° 09’ 20” | 8.82 | Cetus |
| Jul 18 2025 | 01h 13m 59s | -05° 09’ 29” | 8.81 | Cetus |
Additional Resources on TheSkyLive
- Asteroid 1 Ceres: Complete reference information on TheSkyLive.com.
- Where is asteroid 1 Ceres?: Key information on where to find asteroid 1 Ceres in the sky.
- Distance of asteroid 1 Ceres from Earth: Find out how far asteroid 1 Ceres is from Earth right now.
- How Bright is asteroid 1 Ceres?: Current visual brightness (magnitude) and apparent size.
- Rise and Set Times: Rise and set times of asteroid 1 Ceres from your location.
- Interactive Sky Map: Planetarium-style interactive visualization of asteroid 1 Ceres's position in the sky.
- Live Position Tracker: High precision real time tracker of asteroid 1 Ceres's position using deep space imagery.
- Ephemeris: 15 days asteroid 1 Ceres's computed ephemeris.
- Orbital elements: Information about asteroid 1 Ceres orbital parameters.
- Orbit Visualization: 3D interactive visualization showing the orbit of asteroid 1 Ceres with respect to the major Solar System objects.
- Physical Data: Detailed information about physical properties of asteroid 1 Ceres.