1 Ceres

1 Ceres (, Latin Cer?s) was the first asteroid to be discovered. It was discovered on January 1, 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi. With a diameter of about 950 km it is by far the largest and most massive asteroid in the main asteroid belt.

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Ceres was originally named Ceres Ferdinandea after both the mythological figure Ceres (Roman goddess of plants and motherly love) and King Ferdinand III of Sicily (a.k.a. Ferdinand IV of Naples, a.k.a Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). King Ferdinand was taking refuge in Palermo at the time, the Kingdom of Naples having been conquered by the French in 1798. The "Ferdinandea" part was not acceptable to other nations of the world and was dropped. Ceres was also called Hera for a short time in Germany.

Asteroid: An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. An asteroid is an example of a minor planet (or planetoid), which are much smaller than planets. Most asteroids are believed to be remnants of the protoplanetary disc which were not incorporated into planets during the syste...

January 1: January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the f...

1801: 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar)....

1 Ceres related Images and Photos (experimental)

Ceres	Ceres	Ceres c.1790	Ceres Nice
Pates Ceres	Ceres and Cyane	Ceres and Stellio	Ceres Bacchus Venus and Cupid
Agriculture Pomona Ceres and Neptune from the Ceiling of the Library	Attack on the French Frigate "Aimable" and the French Sloop "Ceres" by Two British Frigates