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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:46 
Transit: 12:58 
Sunset: 21:11
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Dwarf Planets and Asteroids » 

Asteroid 1 Ceres

Above the horizon.  Rise: 3:13 | Tran: 8:38 | Set: 14:03
Alt: 29.38°   Az: 202.92°   Direction: South-South-West

Asteroid 1 Ceres is in the constellation of Cetus, at a distance of 473,940,765.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 00h 38m 29s and the Declination is -06° 39’ 39” (apparent coordinates). The magnitude of Asteroid 1 Ceres is 9.20.

Finder Charts

Map showing Asteroid 1 Ceres in Cetus on June, 06 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Asteroid 1 Ceres in Cetus on June, 06 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: 00h 37m 11s
Dec: -06° 48’ 02”
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

00h 38m 29s
-06° 39’ 39”
01h 19m 54s
01h 58m 24s

J2000

00h 37m 11s
-06° 48’ 02”

Additional Information

Cetus
9.20

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: 96.7°
Max altitude: 31.9°
Azimuth: 263.4°
  • 1 Ceres is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the South-South-West direction at an altitude of 29.38° 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 473,940,765.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.1680983344 Astronomical Units. Light takes 26m 20.896s to travel from Asteroid 1 Ceres and arrive to us.

473,940,765.0
3.1680983344
26m 20.896s

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
2h1>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 May 30 00h 30m 19s -07° 13’ 11” 9.24 Cetus
2025 May 31 00h 31m 27s -07° 08’ 23” 9.23 Cetus
2025 Jun 01 00h 32m 35s -07° 03’ 39” 9.23 Cetus
2025 Jun 02 00h 33m 42s -06° 59’ 00” 9.22 Cetus
2025 Jun 03 00h 34m 48s -06° 54’ 27” 9.22 Cetus
2025 Jun 04 00h 35m 54s -06° 49’ 58” 9.21 Cetus
2025 Jun 05 00h 37m 00s -06° 45’ 35” 9.21 Cetus
2025 Jun 06 00h 38m 05s -06° 41’ 15” 9.20 Cetus
2025 Jun 07 00h 39m 09s -06° 37’ 01” 9.20 Cetus
2025 Jun 08 00h 40m 13s -06° 32’ 53” 9.19 Cetus
2025 Jun 09 00h 41m 17s -06° 28’ 49” 9.18 Cetus
2025 Jun 10 00h 42m 20s -06° 24’ 51” 9.18 Cetus
2025 Jun 11 00h 43m 22s -06° 20’ 58” 9.17 Cetus
2025 Jun 12 00h 44m 24s -06° 17’ 11” 9.16 Cetus

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