I'm Ceres and Don't Call Me an Asteroid Quiz

Answer: 1801

Ceres was first discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801. Piazzi was a Catholic priest and astronomer who observed the dwarf planet from the Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily. He named the new planet Cerere Ferdinandea after the Roman goddess Ceres and King Ferdinand I of Sicily. The name was shortened to simply Ceres.

Answer: Yes

Originally thought to be a regular planet, Ceres would later be reclassified as an asteroid by the mid 1850s, after numerous other asteroids such as Pallas, Vesta and Hygiea were discovered. Since Ceres was initially thought to be a planet it had received its own planetary symbol, which resembles a sickle with a cross at the bottom.

It is similar to the symbol for Venus (the female symbol), but with a portion of the circle cut out.

Answer: Enceladus

Ceres has a diameter of 588 mi (946 km) and is by far the largest object in the asteroid belt. Saturn's moon Enceladus has a diameter of 313 mi (504 km), Pluto's diameter is 1,477 mi (2,377 km) and the Moon's diameter is 2,159 mi (3,474 km). Mercury is the largest of the choices at 3,032 mi (4,880 km).

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union would reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, which they defined as an object orbiting a star that is large enough to become spherical, but is not large enough to clear its region of other objects. Ceres is now often referred to as a dwarf planet, since it meets these criteria, though there is still debate on the subject.

Answer: 4.6 years

Ceres orbits the Sun from within the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, roughly about 257 million mi (414 million km) from the Sun. Mars orbits the Sun once every 1.9 years and Jupiter orbits the Sun once every 11.9 years. Ceres takes approximately 4.6 years to complete its orbit, which is also slightly inclined at about 10°.

Answer: Dawn

NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft on September 27, 2007 aboard a Delta II rocket. The Dawn spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mars to send it out towards the asteroid belt, where it would study Ceres and its neighbor Vesta. Dawn arrived at Vesta first in 2011, where it remained a little over a year before moving on to study Ceres.

The Dawn mission is due to conclude by the end of 2018.

Answer: 9 hours

Ceres is small compared to the larger planets, but it is fast in its axial rotation. A day on the dwarf planet Ceres is only nine hours long, nearly one hour faster than the mighty Jupiter. For other comparisons, Mercury (the smallest planet) rotates on its axis once every 59 days and Mars is only a half hour longer than the Earth (24.5 hrs). Ceres has an axial tilt of approximately 4°.

Answer: Ahuna Mons

Ahuna Mons is the largest mountain (although there aren't that many) on Ceres. It rises roughly 12,000 ft (4 km) above the surface of Ceres. Scientists have determined that Ahuna Mons may be a now dormant cryovolcano, that at one time erupted slush, mud and other water-based material into Ceres' thin atmosphere.

Answer: Sodium Carbonate

In 2015, the Dawn mission discovered several patches of bright white spots located in and around several craters on Ceres. Spectral analysis of these spots indicated that the spots consisted mostly of salt, primarily sodium carbonate. Dawn's study of Ceres has also allowed scientists to theorize that Ceres may have a mantle of ice and possibly even liquid water far below the surface.

Answer: True

Element number 58 of the periodic table is known as cerium. It was discovered in 1803 by Swedish chemists Jons Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger, two years after the discovery of Ceres. Cerium is one of the most abundant of the lanthanide (rare-earth) elements. It is used in making cigarette lighters, self-cleaning ovens and gas mantles.

Answer: Agriculture

In Roman mythology, Ceres was the goddess of agriculture. The name does not really suit the dwarf planet, since Ceres is a dark, cold and lifeless world. Ceres' Greek counterpart was known as Demeter, a sister of the mighty Zeus. The Cererian mountain Ahuna Mons was named after an agricultural festival celebrated by the Sumi culture in India every November.