// Dwarf planet

Ceres

Distance from Earth right now

…

calculated live from orbital data (NASA/JPL)

Distance from Sun

2.77 AU (≈ 414 million km)

Orbital period

≈ 4.6 years

Diameter

940 km

Moons

0

Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System — it accounts for about a third of the belt's total mass. Scientists suspect a layer of water ice beneath its surface, possibly even a liquid ocean, and the bright spots in Occator crater are salt deposits. The Dawn spacecraft orbited Ceres from 2015 to 2018, capturing the most detailed images to date.

Orbital data: NASA/JPL Horizons. Photos: Wikimedia Commons.