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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 1 Ceres

Above the horizon.  Rise: 8:22 | Tran: 12:32 | Set: 16:43
Alt: 18.56°   Az: 181.05°   Direction: South

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.

Asteroid 1 Ceres is in the constellation of Capricornus, at a distance of 592,268,105.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 21h 59m 54s and the Declination is -19° 57’ 23” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of Asteroid 1 Ceres is 8.98 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Asteroid 1 Ceres in Capricornus on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Asteroid 1 Ceres in Capricornus on February, 11 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Asteroid 1 Ceres is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

1 Ceres
RA: 21h 58m 31s
Dec: -20° 04’ 38”
Deep sky finder chart for Asteroid 1 Ceres. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Asteroid 1 Ceres?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Asteroid 1 Ceres in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

21h 59m 54s
-19° 57’ 23”
00h 04m 15s
22h 04m 10s

J2000

21h 58m 31s
-20° 04’ 38”

Additional Information

Capricornus
8.98

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Asteroid 1 Ceres from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 110.0°
Max altitude: 18.6°
Azimuth: 250.1°
  • 1 Ceres is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the South direction at an altitude of 18.56° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 1 Ceres is visible with the help of a binocular with a 50mm aperture, easy with a small telescope.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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 592,268,105.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.9590677476 Astronomical Units. Light takes 32m 55.594s to travel from Asteroid 1 Ceres and arrive to us.

592,268,105.0
3.9590677476
32m 55.594s

The following chart shows the distance of Asteroid 1 Ceres from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Asteroid 1 Ceres from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 1 Ceres from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Asteroid 1 Ceres to Earth happens on Mon Feb 11 1636 at a distance of 1.573972 Astronomical Units, or 235,462,867 kilometers:

Mon Feb 11 1636
235,462,867
1.573972

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Asteroid 1 Ceres, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Asteroid 1 Ceres as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Asteroid 1 Ceres at epoch 24 February 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 2022-Dec-06 14:18:42
2,459,920.0963 JD
Next perihelion transit 2027-Jul-14 22:24
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

Orbit Diagram of Asteroid 1 Ceres
View Asteroid 1 Ceres in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Physical Data

The following shows the known values of the most important physical parameters of Asteroid 1 Ceres. Source: 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
2025 Feb 04 21h 48m 03s -20° 53’ 49” 9.02 Capricornus
2025 Feb 05 21h 49m 38s -20° 46’ 24” 9.01 Capricornus
2025 Feb 06 21h 51m 13s -20° 38’ 57” 9.00 Capricornus
2025 Feb 07 21h 52m 46s -20° 31’ 30” 9.00 Capricornus
2025 Feb 08 21h 54m 21s -20° 24’ 00” 8.99 Capricornus
2025 Feb 09 21h 55m 56s -20° 16’ 28” 8.99 Capricornus
2025 Feb 10 21h 57m 30s -20° 08’ 56” 8.98 Capricornus
2025 Feb 11 21h 59m 05s -20° 01’ 22” 8.98 Capricornus
2025 Feb 12 22h 00m 39s -19° 53’ 47” 8.97 Aquarius
2025 Feb 13 22h 02m 13s -19° 46’ 11” 8.97 Aquarius
2025 Feb 14 22h 03m 47s -19° 38’ 33” 8.97 Aquarius
2025 Feb 15 22h 05m 20s -19° 30’ 54” 8.97 Aquarius
2025 Feb 16 22h 06m 54s -19° 23’ 14” 8.97 Aquarius
2025 Feb 17 22h 08m 28s -19° 15’ 32” 8.97 Aquarius

Additional Resources