Where is Ceres found?

In the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

What are the bright spots mostly made of?

Salt deposits like sodium carbonate

Ceres Quiz: Occator's Bright Spots and the Dwarf Planet

This Ceres quiz flies with NASA's Dawn spacecraft to the dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on Giuseppe Piazzi's 1801 discovery, its size, the 2006 dwarf planet decision, Occator crater's bright spots, salty deposits, Ahuna Mons, buried brine and the goddess behind the name.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Where
Where is Ceres found?
Found
When was Ceres discovered?
Finder
Who discovered Ceres?
Class
What was Ceres classed as in 2006?
Size
About how wide is Ceres?
Probe
Which spacecraft orbited Ceres from 2015?
Spots
Where are Ceres's famous bright spots?
Salt
What are the bright spots mostly made of?
Mountain
What is Ahuna Mons?
Name
Ceres is named after a Roman goddess of what?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where is Ceres found?
Answer: In the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
It is the belt's largest object.
Q2: When was Ceres discovered?
Answer: 1801
It was found on New Year's Day.
Q3: Who discovered Ceres?
Answer: Giuseppe Piazzi
He worked in Palermo.
Q4: What was Ceres classed as in 2006?
Answer: A dwarf planet
Pluto was reclassified too.
Q5: About how wide is Ceres?
Answer: About 940 kilometers
It is roughly round.
Q6: Which spacecraft orbited Ceres from 2015?
Answer: Dawn
It visited Vesta first.
Q7: Where are Ceres's famous bright spots?
Answer: Occator crater
They puzzled scientists.
Q8: What are the bright spots mostly made of?
Answer: Salt deposits like sodium carbonate
Briny water left them behind.
Q9: What is Ahuna Mons?
Answer: A lonely ice volcano
It rises about 4 km.
Q10: Ceres is named after a Roman goddess of what?
Answer: Agriculture
The word cereal comes from her.

Ceres Quiz – Occator's Bright Spots and the Dwarf Planet

Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres from Palermo on 1 January 1801. It is about 940 kilometers wide and the largest object in the asteroid belt, and in 2006 it was classed as a dwarf planet.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft visited the asteroid Vesta, then orbited Ceres from 2015 to 2018. It found bright spots in Occator crater made of salts such as sodium carbonate, left by briny water rising from below.

Dawn also found Ahuna Mons, a lonely mountain thought to be an ice volcano. Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose name also gives us the word cereal.

What This Quiz Teaches

Space fans will enjoy these questions.

Where Ceres is
Who found it
Why it is a dwarf planet
What Dawn discovered
Where its name comes from

Did You Know?

Dawn was the first craft to orbit two different bodies beyond Earth.
Ceres may still hold a layer of salty water.
It makes up about a quarter of the asteroid belt's mass.
Ceres was once counted as a planet.
Its surface is darker than asphalt.