Solar System for Kids: A Junior Scientist's Guide to Planets, Dwarf Planets, and Everything Circling Our Sun by Hilary Statum

Author:Hilary Statum [Statum, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Published: 2020-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

CERES

DIAMETER:

600 MILES

DISTANCE FROM SUN:

257 MILLION MILES

DISTANCE FROM EARTH:

344 MILLION MILES

KNOWN MOONS:

NONE

LENGTH OF 1 DAY:

9 HOURS

LENGTH OF 1 YEAR:

1,680 EARTH DAYS

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE:

-100 TO -225 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT

Something much bigger than the average asteroid cruises through the asteroid belt. Its name is Ceres and it is the closest dwarf planet to Earth. Ceres is by far the largest object in the asteroid belt. It contains about one quarter of all the material in the belt. Despite its large size, it is still much smaller than our Moon. The diameter is about the same as the width of the state of Texas.

Ceres has a thin, dusty, and rocky surface that covers an icy mantle and a rocky or metallic inner core. Scientists think the interior of Ceres contains a large amount of salty ice and water. Ceres’s north and south poles also probably have ice. Because of its location in the asteroid belt, Ceres takes about 4.6 Earth years to make one orbit around the Sun. Unlike Earth, Ceres doesn’t have much of an atmosphere, but scientists think it may have small amounts of water vapor, the gas form of water.

Ceres was discovered by an Italian astronomer named Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801. He was looking for a star but found Ceres instead! It was the easiest object in the asteroid belt to see from Earth. Ceres was called a planet for almost 50 years. Later, when other objects were found in Ceres’s orbit, astronomers understood that it wasn’t a true planet after all. That’s when scientists started calling Ceres an asteroid. One hundred and fifty years later, in 2006, scientists classified Ceres as a dwarf planet because it was much bigger and different from its neighbors. We will learn about more dwarf planets in chapter 5.

Ceres is the first dwarf planet to be visited by spacecraft. In 2015, the spacecraft Dawn orbited Ceres to study its surface and history. Dawn showed us that dwarf planets may have had oceans at one time—and possibly still could. Ceres is a place that scientists are excited to study because many of the building blocks for life are there. These include certain molecules containing the element carbon as well as plenty of water and ice.

EXPLORE MORE!

Make your own crater model! All you need is a handful of marbles, three cups of flour, and a baking tray. Sprinkle the flour into an even layer on the baking tray and make the surface smooth. Drop the marbles onto the flour and carefully remove them. You will see saucer-shaped craters! Try experimenting to see if the craters are bigger or smaller when you drop the marbles from higher (more impact energy) or lower (less impact energy).

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